OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2010. Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, Chairman of the Board of Association of Russian Automakers Non-Profit Partnership, has made a report at the inter-regional party conference of United Russia “Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of the Volga region till 2020. Program for 2010-2012” in Nizhny Novgorod.

Sergey Kogoghin’s report was devoted to measures for support and development of the domestic automobile industry in the Volga Federal District.

Automobile industry is one of the basic economic sectors of the Volga Federal District. The main enterprises are located in five republics and oblasts of the district and form the so-called “Volga Automotive Cluster”. Besides them, there are about 300 producers of automobile components in the district too. The Strategy of Development of the Russian Automobile Industry till 2020 approved by the RF Government sets the enterprises of the district a task to create a strong, competitive economic sector and improve production quality.

In this connection, Sergey Kogoghin emphasized three main tasks: to increase business scales, to recover competitiveness, to catch up with engineering achievements, to raise an HR-potential. He stated methods of approach and operational experience of KAMAZ and other automobile companies of the Volga Federal District in solving of these tasks.

In particular, KAMAZ’s top manager told about the company’s partnership with the regional educational institutions as an example of successful solving of infrastructural and personnel problems: the company and its partners established the KAMAZ-KSTU Scientific and Educational Cluster, the Machine-Building Volga Cluster University, corporate universities of KAMAZ, AvtoVAZ and GAZ, as well as Industrial Park Master on production premises of KAMAZ.

As to development of a modern component base, Sergey Kogoghin noted that some of the world’s leading OEM producers entered the regional market. KAMAZ established JVs with such famous companies as Zahnrad Fabrik, Cummins, Knorr Bremse, and Federal Mogul. KAMAZ’s Director General emphasized that development of vehicle components production has a multiplier effect in related branches with a factor of 2.0-2.5.

Partnership with the world’s manufacturers means that the Russian enterprises can produce new high-technology vehicles able to successfully compete with the leading foreign manufacturers’ products.

Sergey Kogoghin named OJSC KAMAZ’s long-term development strategy as an example of a development strategy based on innovative renewal of the produced model range due to establishment of JVs for key components production. This strategy provides for production of the current model range with the use of modern components till 2013. At the same time, the company will be focused on production of reliable and high-quality vehicles at reasonable prices. From 2014 KAMAZ will start producing vehicles of the new generation with brand new specifications and customer properties complying with the world standards. And to date, KAMAZ’s investment program is focused on implementation of 8 key projects which will enable to achieve its goals and make its products competitive for the near future.

According to Sergey Kogoghin, when establishing modern automobile enterprises in the RF, the state should create economic incentives both for production and for demand for high-tech, up-to-date vehicles. In order to achieve the goals of the strategy, the state should stimulate renewal of the vehicle fleet, demand for eco-friendlier equipment produced by the Russian companies, production localization at JVs established with foreign companies, maintenance of key competences of the Russian auto producers.