The capacities of the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant are currently only one-third full
The capacities of the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant are currently only one-third full. The capacities of the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant are currently only one-third full.
Over the past ten years, the production of engines for domestic cars has concentrated in three places: at AvtoVAZ, ZMZ (Zavolzhsky Motor Plant) and UMP (Ulyanovsk Motor Plant). Ufa motor ordered to live long, but new projects did not happen.
DOWN VOLGA
AVTOVAZ produces seven models of engines with a volume of 1.4–1.7 l (72–98 hp) for the assembly of 14 models of Lada and Chevrolet cars (Euro-3 or Euro-4 toxicity standards). Motor workshops are theoretically designed to produce over 1 million engines! Only this is on paper, but in real life they do much less - even the cars produced here are not enough.
The fact is that the old engine production is designed for 440 thousand. “Zhiguli” engines, and the need for them was reduced to hundreds of thousands - you can’t sell more “Zhiguli”. It is too early to close it: there is demand and spare parts are needed.
The capabilities of modern engine building in Togliatti are 280 thousand 16-valve and 380 thousand 8-valve engines (80–98 hp), ready to fulfill the requirements of Euro-4 (and some of them - even Euro-5). This year, as expected, a modernized 8-valve engine (1.6 l, 86 hp) will appear in the lineup, and in the future a modern 16-valve engine (1.8 l, 120 hp) with VVT system, variable valve timing.
By the way, both engines are tested as options for equipping Lada-RF90 cars (station wagon on the Renault platform; they plan to start production in February next year). Reviews of experts are the most favorable.
Motor production of AvtoVAZ
Motor production of AvtoVAZ. Motor production of AvtoVAZ.
The French are going to develop their own engine production in Togliatti. Its launch is scheduled for July 2012 (at first Russian-French cars will be equipped with Romanian power units). At AvtoVAZ, the famous K4M engine (16 valves, 1.6 liters, 102 hp) will be first mastered, but in just a couple of years it will be replaced by the new Renault-Nissan alliance worldwide engine (work on it has not yet been completed). The capacity of French production is up to 450 thousand engines per year, and they will be equipped with Renault, Nissan, and Frets.
UPSTREAM
The difficult situation in Zavolzhye and Ulyanovsk: ZMZ and UMP are owned by competing holdings - Sollers and GAZ Group. Their base engines originally from the late 1950s have been modernized more than once, including with the involvement of foreign companies. At the Ulyanovsk Motor Plant, engines with a capacity of 90–125 hp are assembled. for GAZ cars (Gazelle, Sable) and UAZ. With the capacity of the enterprise 100 thousand units last year produced 76 thousand engines that meet Euro-3 standards. Ulyanovsk is developing the new generation upper engine; This year they promise to make a series of prototypes. By 2014, they plan to collect up to 60 thousand of these engines.
GAZ Group has a strong foreign partner. According to the agreement with the Daimler company, in 2012 in Nizhny Novgorod the assembly of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter commercial vehicles will begin. This document also provides for localization, including the assembly of diesel engines, which are designed for both German and Russian models. According to our information, prototypes of the “new generation” Gazelle are already being tested in Nizhny - assembled on a German platform with a German engine. GAZ Group already has experience in the production of licensed power units: since 2007, the Yaroslavl Avtodiesel plant has been producing YaMZ-650 diesel using Renault Trucks technology.
Assembly of modern engines for trucks at the Avtodiesel plant in Yaroslavl
Assembly of modern engines for trucks at the Avtodiesel plant in Yaroslavl. Assembly of modern engines for trucks at the Avtodiesel plant in Yaroslavl.
At the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant (part of the Sollers holding) they make 4-cylinder gas engines ZMZ-406 (2.3 l), ZMZ-40522 (2.5 l), ZMZ-409 (2.7 l) for GAZ cars and UAZ, as well as diesel engines ZMZ-5143 (2.24 L) for all-terrain vehicles UAZ-Hunter. With estimated 250 thousand engines per year in 2010, only 75.3 thousand motors were assembled here.
Of course, their main consumer is the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant. About 2 thousand engines for the Gazelle are brought to the GAZ from the Volga region (under the state order). The leaders of Sollers have repeatedly expressed their intention to organize a new, modern engine production (together with Italians), but now that the joint venture project with FIAT has been officially closed, there is no reason to talk.
But it can be assumed that engine production capacities will be created at ZMZ as part of a joint venture with Ford. Moreover, the Zavolzhsky Engine Plant already has experience of cooperation with Ford - since last year, the Russian plant has supplied four types of brackets for attaching the gearbox and air conditioning to the company's enterprises in Russia, Germany and Spain.
Checking product quality at the ZMZ assembly line
Checking product quality at the ZMZ assembly line. Checking product quality at the ZMZ assembly line.
In general, the Russian government makes a serious bet on the second “campaign” of foreigners. After all, each of the companies that signed the new agreement on industrial assembly should complete a third of the cars produced with Russian-made engines. “And this means building an enterprise of at least 100 thousand. engines, - proudly said the head of the automotive industry department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Alexei Rakhmanov. - Consequently, new industries will appear in the country, designed to produce at least half a million modern power plants per year. And to ensure them, they will create advanced foundry, partners will appear in the production of components, etc."
In a word, it is necessary to cooperate more widely with foreigners. Perhaps they will fill the empty niche of small-volume engines - up to 1.4 liters, as well as from 1.7 to 2.3 liters, and will help to master the production of passenger diesel engines and mounted units - from generators to turbochargers.
