'Two eventful days in Turkey': KAMAZ to pull automotive industry of Recep Erdogan

Erdogan thanked for the opening of Turkey and the vaccine

“We spent two busy working days in the Republic of Turkey! We are going to implement new projects with our large enterprises!” Rustam Minnikhanov posted on his Instagram page.

The Tatarstan delegation was the first to arrive in Ankara immediately after the resumption of air traffic between Russia and Turkey. Perhaps for this reason, the visit was not only full of meetings at different levels, but also really warm and long-awaited.

The conversations were held so informally that the folk costume of Rustam Minnikhanov with a stand-up collar was also noticed. Ismail Safi, a member of the Turkish Presidency's Council of Security and Foreign Policies, was first to become interested in it, who expressed the desire to order “the same suit”. Turkish President Recep Erdogan also noted the unusual cut of the suit.

“You look good. It's beautiful," the Turkish leader praised.

At the end of the visit of the Tatarstan delegation, Recep Erdogan spoke by phone with Vladimir Putin, during the conversation he expressed gratitude for the decision taken by the Russian side to resume air traffic with Turkey, as well as for the start of supplies of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

How to increase trade turnover after the pandemic

The working trip opened with a meeting in Istanbul with the leadership of the Turkish Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, and a day later ended with the signing of agreements on the development of joint projects in the automotive industry. This is not surprising, because the Turkish car industry has long been present in the republic. However, so far in the field of light vehicles.

The Alliance of Machine Builders unites more than 200 local companies producing machine tools and equipment and is ready for a broader partnership. Speaking at the meeting, Rustam Minnikhanov said that due to the pandemic, the trade turnover between Turkey and Tatarstan decreased from $481 million in 2019 to $360 million in 2020. He expressed hope that the situation would improve.

On the second day, the team of Minnikhanov flew to Ankara, where they visited the Karba Otomotiv plant. Karba plant is one of the largest Turkish manufacturers of on-board and utility equipment, which was founded in 1994. Today, 45% of all manufactured products are exported to 48 countries of the world, including Europe and the CIS countries. These components were among the first to be evaluated in Ukraine, where the production of Turkish-made Karba garbage trucks has been established. Garbage trucks are built on the MAZ chassis and have a number of advantages compared to similar equipment presented in Ukraine.

Tatneft is targeting Tupras, and KAMAZ — Karbi

At the end of the acquaintance with the plant, a memorandum of understanding was signed between KAMAZ PJSC and Karba Otomotiv. “The companies are planning to consider the possibilities of cooperation in the promotion of fire and garbage truck equipment with Karba settings based on the KAMAZ chassis in Russia," the report says. The memorandum was signed in the presence of Rustam Minnikhanov and Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay. We are talking about the readiness of joint assembly of special-class cars, which are usually purchased under state contracts once every 25 years. “When there are details, we will definitely announce. A memorandum of understanding has been signed so far," Oleg Afanasyev, KAMAZ's press secretary, said laconically.

At the same time, Tatneft and the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey signed a memorandum on cooperation in the petrochemical industry. It was signed by Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology of Turkey Cetin Ali Donmez and Director General of Tatneft Nail Maganov.

“The signed memorandum allows us to develop cooperation in the petrochemical industry on the territory of Turkey and, among other important provisions, provides for measures of state support for projects from the Turkish government in case of their joint implementation. On its basis, Tatneft, together with its Turkish partners, will determine promising projects for implementation on the territory of Turkey," the press service of Tatneft reported in a statement.

Besides, the memorandum of understanding between the government of Tatarstan (Innopolis SEZ) and the technological development zone Valley of Information Technologies was signed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Roman Shaykhutdinov and the CEO of Bilisim Vadisi.

KAMAZ will intercept the state order of EMERCOM for fire trucks

Denis Kudryavtsev, the director general of the Association of Manufacturers of Wheeled Vehicles, Self-propelled Vehicles, and Road Construction Equipment Spetsavtoprom, told Realnoe Vremya that with the signing of this memorandum, more opportunities open up for the Turkish automaker than for KAMAZ:

“At present, the Turkish authorities are seriously focused on supporting the national automotive industry and will do everything possible to promote its external expansion. In this sense, they are trying to repeat the aggressive tactics of China to conquer the Russian market. The Turkish authorities are preparing to raise the industry to a global level. In this sense, apparently, I saw in KAMAZ a reliable partner capable of promoting the Turkish auto industry in an alliance with a reputable state-level automaker.”

Indeed, the time for the implementation of grandiose plans is chosen well. Currently, huge funds are being allocated from the federal budget for the purchase of fire equipment. “From the reserve fund alone, in addition to those budgeted for 2021, about 8 billion rubles have been allocated for the purchase of fire equipment," Denis Kudryavtsev explained. At the same time, the Moscow production association 'Special Fire Extinguishing Equipment', which produced fire trucks on the KAMAZ chassis, is preparing to shut down due to the lack of orders for these types of cars. Before that, they designed a two-axial chassis, as well as a rescue module that is mounted in the body of serial Mercedes-Benz X-class pickup truck. In general, the manufacturers of fire equipment work exclusively under state contracts, which has ended this year.

In addition, funds are allocated for the purchase of forest fire equipment. The main part of such equipment is manufactured on a self-propelled chassis or on a Ural or KAMAZ cross-country chassis. It is obvious that the alliance of KAMAZ and Karba can become their competitor in this segment.

And they want to get into the “garbage reform”

KAMAZ has even weaker positions in the niche of garbage trucks. Private garbage operators purchase equipment mainly based on MAN, Volvo and IVECO. Apparently, the reliance is on public procurement, since commercial operators still prefer foreign equipment.

There is one thing in all this, but the equipment sold under state contracts in accordance with the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 616 of 2020 must comply with the requirements of another decree — No. 719 as of 2015 'On confirmation of the production of industrial products on the territory of the Russian Federation'. Buying a ready-made or disassembled superstructure from Turkey and mounting it on the chassis, KAMAZ will not be able to produce domestic equipment. So will there be any effect from cooperation with Turkey?