Sloppiness or sabotage: why Russia won’t have its own auto industry
- April 14, 2023
- 0
After it became clear to everyone how deep the fall of the domestic auto industry was, how complaints from “all-weapons” began to be heard from all sides that
After it became clear to everyone how deep the fall of the domestic auto industry was, how complaints from “all-weapons” began to be heard from all sides that nothing would shine for us in this industry for decades to come. Portal “AvtoVzglyad” tried to consider the problem without panic and self-abasement.
Who will argue that the “Health is the most important thing, and we will buy the rest” policy, together with the concern of responsible workers, mainly about their own wallets, has plunged the Russian auto industry into a deep crisis. And the deeper the awareness of this sad fact, the gloomier forecasts erupt domestic auto experts. It’s understandable – the scarier the comment, the more attention it attracts.
Why not copy
Another reason for the negative streams was the speech of the deputy. Head of the Economic Commission of the Federation Council Valery Vasiliev. He suggested copying cars from unfriendly countries:
– In modern conditions, it is advisable to annul patents from unfriendly countries – for the body, spare parts, interior design – and use them to create domestic car brands. That is, to follow the path of production copying, and not just in the automotive industry … We see that China has once taken this path – and as a result, it confidently leads in terms of production volume among countries that have traditionally famous for a strong auto industry, – he told the RIA agency “News”.
Against the background of how our Western and Eastern “partners” behave, such a step is not only justified, but also quite appropriate to the situation. True, Mr. Vasilyev did not take into account one important point, which justified the need to invalidate Western patents. While China simply copied foreign designs, nothing good came of it.
For many years, handicrafts came off the assembly lines of car factories, which were scary to approach – not to drive. And only after the Celestial Empire opened joint production with the same Germans and Americans, and also bought some European companies such as Volvo, was it able to produce decent cars. And it happened very recently.
So stupid copying of foreign samples will bring us nothing but another disgrace, which can be considered almost all the “achievements” of the domestic auto industry. We must strive for true technological independence, and all means are good for that, including industrial espionage and outright poaching by Western experts.
Cold shower for optimists
Experts try to dip the few surviving optimists under a cold shower to the delight of many pessimists. “If you produce chips that were produced 20 years ago in the West or in the East, you are not creating a modern motor control system,” they say. Well, of course, how can we compete with the West – it was powerful and powerful! And it doesn’t matter that modern chips are not produced in Europe.
Only equipment for their production is produced there, and then only in one, it seems, country – no, not in Germany, but in the Netherlands. And nothing – state-of-the-art BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Renault run along the roads. Yes, and in China there is no production of modern chips.
Here’s another reason to call guard. “Production of Renault H4M engines was introduced, which were installed together with CVTs … Now this production has come to a standstill. Why? Because there is no software. Two questions immediately arise here. First, if production worked, where did the software go? Is this carelessness or sabotage? And secondly, is there really no way to restore this software in a country where world-class programmers and hackers live?
An even nicer reason to inflate panic is that the Russian market is too small. “Unfortunately, we will have to create the future domestic auto industry united in quality, level and spare parts with the auto industry of South Asian countries.” It is necessary to disassemble Tata and Proton cars and sell spare parts for them abroad and in the domestic market. Everything is equally beautiful here. We can’t saturate our own market, but we’re invited to start exporting right away and focus on such rubbish at the same time – it’s breathtaking.
It’s time to uproot the legacy of the 1990s
According to the vice president of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin, with the coordinated action of all ministries and departments, it will take 6 to 8 years to train specialists. After that, these trained people will need about 10 years to create production and learn how to copy, first individual components and assemblies, and then whole cars. And these will be technically the simplest machines.
I don’t want to upset Mr. Vice President, but the path he colorfully describes will not lead to a bright future, neither in 18, nor in 25, nor in 30 years. And it’s not at all about the lack of staff training, the lack of software or the pathological inability to copy someone else’s idea. The problem lies in the lack of economic incentives for the development of the automotive industry.
Spades, even diligently dealt from the top of power, cannot correct the situation. The flawed financial and economic system that was carefully nurtured in the 1990s needs to be changed. The efforts of the Central Bank leadership and the Ministry of Economic Development have completely paralyzed domestic investment, because now only the budget or the abnormals will decide to invest in real production.
So isn’t it time to open the floodgates so the economy can breathe freely? Then not only ours, but also foreigners will invest in the real sector. And the auto industry will grow much faster than Mr. Shaparin imagines.
Photo by globallookpress.com
Photo by globallookpress.com
Photo 6auto.ru
Who will argue that the “Health is the most important thing, and we will buy the rest” policy, together with the concern of responsible workers, mainly about their own wallets, has plunged the Russian auto industry into a deep crisis. And the deeper the awareness of this sad fact, the gloomier forecasts erupt domestic auto experts. It’s understandable – the scarier the comment, the more attention it attracts.
Why not copy
Another reason for the negative streams was the speech of the deputy. Head of the Economic Commission of the Federation Council Valery Vasiliev. He suggested copying cars from unfriendly countries:
– In modern conditions, it is advisable to annul patents from unfriendly countries – for the body, spare parts, interior design – and use them to create domestic car brands. That is, to follow the path of production copying, and not just in the automotive industry … We see that China has once taken this path – and as a result, it confidently leads in terms of production volume among countries that have traditionally famous for a strong auto industry, – he told the RIA agency “News”.
Against the background of how our Western and Eastern “partners” behave, such a step is not only justified, but also quite appropriate to the situation. True, Mr. Vasilyev did not take into account one important point, which justified the need to invalidate Western patents. While China simply copied foreign designs, nothing good came of it.
For many years, handicrafts came off the assembly lines of car factories, which were scary to approach – not to drive. And only after the Celestial Empire opened joint production with the same Germans and Americans, and also bought some European companies such as Volvo, was it able to produce decent cars. And it happened very recently.
So stupid copying of foreign samples will bring us nothing but another disgrace, which can be considered almost all the “achievements” of the domestic auto industry. We must strive for true technological independence, and all means are good for that, including industrial espionage and outright poaching by Western experts.
Cold shower for optimists
Experts try to dip the few surviving optimists under a cold shower to the delight of many pessimists. “If you produce chips that were produced 20 years ago in the West or in the East, you are not creating a modern motor control system,” they say. Well, of course, how can we compete with the West – it was powerful and powerful! And it doesn’t matter that modern chips are not produced in Europe.
Only equipment for their production is produced there, and then only in one, it seems, country – no, not in Germany, but in the Netherlands. And nothing – state-of-the-art BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Renault run along the roads. Yes, and in China there is no production of modern chips.
Here’s another reason to call guard. “Production of Renault H4M engines was introduced, which were installed together with CVTs … Now this production has come to a standstill. Why? Because there is no software. Two questions immediately arise here. First, if production worked, where did the software go? Is this carelessness or sabotage? And secondly, is there really no way to restore this software in a country where world-class programmers and hackers live?
An even nicer reason to inflate panic is that the Russian market is too small. “Unfortunately, we will have to create the future domestic auto industry united in quality, level and spare parts with the auto industry of South Asian countries.” It is necessary to disassemble Tata and Proton cars and sell spare parts for them abroad and in the domestic market. Everything is equally beautiful here. We can’t saturate our own market, but we’re invited to start exporting right away and focus on such rubbish at the same time – it’s breathtaking.
It’s time to uproot the legacy of the 1990s
According to the vice president of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin, with the coordinated action of all ministries and departments, it will take 6 to 8 years to train specialists. After that, these trained people will need about 10 years to create production and learn how to copy, first individual components and assemblies, and then whole cars. And these will be technically the simplest machines.
I don’t want to upset Mr. Vice President, but the path he colorfully describes will not lead to a bright future, neither in 18, nor in 25, nor in 30 years. And it’s not at all about the lack of staff training, the lack of software or the pathological inability to copy someone else’s idea. The problem lies in the lack of economic incentives for the development of the automotive industry.
Spades, even diligently dealt from the top of power, cannot correct the situation. The flawed financial and economic system that was carefully nurtured in the 1990s needs to be changed. The efforts of the Central Bank leadership and the Ministry of Economic Development have completely paralyzed domestic investment, because now only the budget or the abnormals will decide to invest in real production.
So isn’t it time to open the floodgates to let the economy breathe freely? Then not only ours, but also foreigners will invest in the real sector. And the auto industry will grow much faster than Mr. Shaparin imagines.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
