Vice President of UkrAuto Corporation Oleg Papashev announced plans regarding the Lanos model.
According to him, the car remains in demand, but significant investments are required for a serious update. "At the moment, ZAZ does not produce volumes that would allow generating sufficient profit for investment in production and modernization. Therefore, Lanos sales will continue for about another five years, and then we will make a decision," Papashev noted.
He also explained that for the profitability of producing a new model or updating an existing one, the plant must be loaded almost 90% of its design capacity, which amounts to 120-140 thousand cars.
This autumn, the enterprise intends to start production of Lanos with an automatic transmission, and after launch, this version will go on sale. At the same time, the installation of a diesel engine is not yet being considered.
As added by the Chairman of the Board of ZAZ Mykola Yevdokymenko, the car with automatic transmission will cost $1,200 more than the similar version with a manual gearbox.
According to the results of May, ZAZ was in third position among the best-selling brands in Ukraine. During the past month, the plant sold 1,486 cars — this is 16.1% less compared to April, but 32.2% more than in May 2010.
Zaporizhia Automobile Plant is a closed joint-stock company with foreign investments and is part of the UkrAuto group. The enterprise has a full production cycle of passenger cars and produces cars under the ZAZ brand: Forza, Lanos, Sens, Chance, as well as VAZ cars. The capacity for full-scale production is 165 thousand cars per year.
