Officials were horrified by what support for AvtoVAZ led to
The recycling fee has backfired: the Ministry of Industry and Trade is preparing for a 200 billion ruble reduction in budget revenues in 2025. So why was it necessary to increase the recycling fee for cars?
Industry Minister Anton Alikhanov brought bad news : the federal budget will lose 200 billion rubles in recycling fees in 2025.
— Due to the significant contraction of the market due to high car loan rates and the decline in sales of imported cars, budget revenues from this item have significantly decreased. By the end of the year, the shortfall could amount to about 200 billion rubles.
Anton Alikhanov: the budget in 2025 will lose 200 billion rubles in recycling fees. Photo: Roscongress
So, the Central Bank is to blame for everything, since it does not want to lower the key rate below 21%? Expensive loans are a really big problem for the economy. You can’t argue with that. But let’s look at how much car loans actually cost.
Almost every major automaker now has its own credit programs. Sellers are willing to subsidize commercial bank rates themselves - just so that their cars are bought.
AvtoVAZ offers installment plans with a down payment of 50%. Photo: lada.ru
With a large down payment (usually 70–80%, but sometimes 50%), you can even count on a two-year installment plan, that is, a loan with a minimum rate of 0.01%.
The average cost of a new car at the beginning of 2025 is 2.98 million rubles. Photo: 1MI
Let's look at a real situation. According to Avito Auto, in February 2025, the average cost of a new car was 2.98 million rubles, and the average car loan was 1.21 million rubles. That is, the average down payment was 1.77 million rubles, or 59%.
This is already enough to qualify for very low rates. A three-year loan for a Haval F7 worth about 3 million rubles will cost 1.4% per annum. Geely Preface with a down payment of 60% can be taken in installments for three years. For Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max, conditions with a rate of 3.5% per annum are available.
Automakers offer subsidized credit programs. Photo: haval.ru
In reality, it turns out that there are affordable car loans. But what you can't get away from is the high recycling fee. Surprisingly, the drop in car sales and imports coincided with an increase not in the key rate, but in the recycling fee.
Unlike the federal budget, AvtoVAZ benefits from the increase in the recycling fee. Photo: 1MI
To simply pay the state 667,400 rubles for import or assembly with insufficient localization of a car is no joke. In fact, the recycling fee is more than 22% of the average cost of a new car. People cannot and do not want to buy overpriced cars.
But since the recycling fee has been raised, it means that it is profitable for someone. One of the initiators of the new tariffs was the head of AvtoVAZ, Maxim Sokolov - last year he proposed to fight Chinese expansion in this way. They overcame the expansion, and at the same time they overcame the budget.
Now AvtoVAZ is also proposing that the state subsidize the purchase of their cars.
The support of AvtoVAZ is expensive, without which Lada cars cannot withstand market competition.
newizv.ru
