Production and Business Activities of Japanese Passenger Vehicle Makers in Russia

As of the beginning of 2022, seven Japanese passenger vehicle makers were present in the Russian automobile market. Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi manufacture and sell automobiles in Russia while Suzuki, Subaru and Honda are only involved in import sales (This report does not cover Toyota and Nissan because separate reports were already published on April 15 on Toyota and on April 19 on Nissan.). However, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which triggered severe sanctions on Russia, all automakers have suspended exports to the country and halted local production.

Sales of Mazda and Mitsubishi, both of which operate joint venture manufacturing bases in Russia, reached nearly 30,000 units in 2021. On the other hand, Suzuki, Subaru and Honda, each sold less than 10,000 units. Honda’s performance was especially poor, selling only 1,324 units. Due to continuous weak sales, the automaker announced in 2021 to pull out of the Russian automobile market.

Japanese Passenger Vehicle Manufacturers: Overview of Business Activities in Russia

	Mazda Motor	Mitsubishi Motors	Suzuki Motor	Subaru	Honda Motor
Local production base	Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus (50 / 50 JV between Sollers and Mazda, factory is located in Vladivostok)	PCMA Rus (70 / 30 JV between Stellantis and Mitsubishi, factory is located in Kaluga)	-	-	-
Locally made models	Mazda 6, CX-5, CX-9	Pajero Sport, Outlander	-	-	-
Company in charge of local sales and imports	Mazda Motor Russia (Owned 100% by Mazda)	Mitsubishi Motors Corporation Russia [MMC Rus] (Subsidiary of Mitsubishi Motors Corp., imports and sells Mitsubishi brand models)	Suzuki Motor Rus (Subsidiary of Itochu, imports and sells Suzuki brand models in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan)	Subaru Motor (Subsidiary of Sojitz, imports and sells Subaru brand models)	Honda Motor RUS (Owned 100% by Honda)
Dealerships (Moscow and environs)	13 dealerships	18 dealerships	10 automobile dealerships, 4 motorcycle dealerships	5 dealerships	5 automobile dealerships, 2 motorcycle dealerships, 3 power products dealerships
Locally sold models	Mazda 6, CX-5, CX-9	Pajero Sport, Outlander, Eclipse Cross, ASX, L200	・Automobiles: Vitara, SX4 S-Cross, Jimny ・Motorcycle: V-Strom	XV, Forester, Outback, WRX	・Automobile: CR-V ・Motorcycles: CBR650R, BR1000RR-R, GL1800 Gold Wing, NT1100, Gold Wing Tour, CB300R, CMX1100, CB1000R, CB300R, Africa Twin, NC750X, CRF300, CRF250RX / R, CRF450 RX / R, CRF250R, PCX125, VFR1200X, VFR800X, XL1000V, XL650V Translap, XL700V Translap, all-terrain vehicles ・Power products: Outboard engines, various generators, HondaJet light business jet, etc.

(Created using company PR materials and various media sources)

Japanese Passenger Vehicle Manufacturers: Recent Developments in Russia

Mazda Motor

・In 2021, Mazda's sales in Russia increased 10.6% year-on-year to 29,177 units. Sales of the CX-5, Mazda’s best selling model in Russia, dropped 1.0% to 19,828 units. The Mazda6 dropped 0.7% to around 4,600 units and the CX-9 fell 59.0% to 2,100 units. The CX-30, which was launched in January 2021, added around 2,600 units to the total. (Apart from the CX-5, sales data of all other models are from media reports.) ・According to media reports Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus began production of the CX-30 at the end of 2020, but production was postponed indefinitely as of February 2022 due to insufficient semiconductor supply. ・On March 2, 2022, Mazda announced on instant messaging service Telegram that new vehicle and repair parts exports to Russia will be temporarily halted. ・As of March 4, 2022, parts exports from Japan to Mazda’s plant in Vladivostok stopped. - Production is believed to have stopped after the plant ran out of parts. ・According to some media reports, Mazda incurred a loss of around 6 billion JPY due to drop in sales in Russia and the depreciation of the Russian currency.

Mitsubishi Motors

・On March 4, 2022, Mitsubishi announced that PCMA Rus is expected to stop production. - As of March 4, parts exports from Japan were already suspended. - As of early April 2022, PCMA Rus was carrying out production at a reduced scale, but production is planned to be fully stopped as soon as the parts inventory runs out.

Subaru

・As of March 5, 2022, exports from Japan to Russia stopped.

Suzuki Motor

・In 2021, Suzuki's sales in Russia increased 15.0% year-on-year to 9,159 units. Sales of the Jimny increased 52.1% to 1,957 units, the SX4 S-Cross went up 26.3% to 1,539 units and the Vitara rose 3.8% to 5,663 units. (Sales data are from Suzuki’s Russian website.) ・As of March 5, 2022, automobile exports from Hungary and Japan to Russia stopped. - In February 2022, Suzuki set a goal of increasing sales in Russia to 14,000 units, up 40% from the previous year.

Honda Motor

・On March 2, 2022, Honda announced on instant messaging service Telegram that new vehicle and repair parts exports to Russia will be temporarily halted. The exports of power products and motorcycles were halted as well. - In 2021, Honda announced its intention to withdraw from the Russian automobile market. The automaker entered the Russian market in 2004 but ended sales of the Acura in 2015 due to unfavorable exchange rates. Repair parts exports to Russia were scheduled to be discontinued in 2022. The main reason for the withdrawal is the sluggish sales. Meanwhile, Honda plans to continue sales of motorcycles and power products. ・As of March 11, 2022, all Japanese employees were back in Japan.

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