Interview with Andrey Pankov, CEO, OOO Rolf Import
The latest Ceauto Newsletter features a 5-page-long interview with Mr Pankov, who talks about the Russian market and Mitsubishi's plans and goals in Russia.
Here are some excerpts
What sales volumes do you expect for the Mitsubishi brand in Russia in 2013?
Mitsubishi sales in the first quarter of 2013 are 19,140 units, what is 46.5 percent higher comparing to the first quarter of 2012. Foreign brand's market growth for the same period of time is only 1.9 percent. Mitsubishi occupied 10th place in foreign brands ranking based on sales in the first three months of 2013. In March, Mitsubishi achieved a SUV sales record in Russia with 8,101 SUVs sold out of the total of 9,119 Mitsubishi vehicles sold in that month
How important is Russia for Mitsubishi?
Sometimes it came as a very big surprise to people when they get information that, in Russia, Mitsubishi is one of the key automotive brands. In reality, the Russian market plays a very important role in Mitsubishi Motors’ global sales. It has a constant position amongst the top three markets for Mitsubishi Motors and, if we are talking about sales in Russia compared to USA and China, we are well ahead of them.
What is Mitsubishi’s volume plan for Russia for the next few years?
In August 2012, at the Moscow motor show, Mr. Osamu Masuko, President of Mitsubishi Motors, officially announced a plan called “Project 15”. It is a specific plan, developed for the Russian market, ourselves and Mitsubishi Motors. The key target of Project 15 is to sell 150,000 units a year by 2015 through 150 dealers. So far we are on track
Despite the fact that the Outlander is manufactured in Kaluga, you are still importing Outlanders from Japan. What is the reason?
We import several versions of the Outlander from Japan. One of the reasons for this is that, because of a very successful launch, demand exceeds manufacturing capacity in Kaluga.
Prior to the crisis, there were ideas to transport Japanese-made cars from Vladivostok to the European part of Russia by train. What do you think about that?
Unfortunately, Russian railways are not so reliable in terms of planning. Therefore we rather have a longer, but more reliable, route which allows us to have better stock planning.