Kazakhstan beefs up its car production

Kazakhstan’s automakers produced 19,500 vehicles over January-February 2023, a 36.8% increase over the same period last year, according to the Association of Automobile Business of Kazakhstan (AKAB).

In February alone, the industry produced 10,400 cars worth $285 million.

In terms of the type of vehicles produced within the reported period, the vast majority were passenger vehicles (17,500 or +41.3%), followed by 1,600 trucks (-3.5%), 263 buses (an increase of 2.3 times), 158 trailers and 27 special-purpose machines.

The biggest car maker Allur in Kostanay increased its output in January-February to 10,600 vehicles (+37.2%). Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan in Almaty produced 7,500 cars (+41.1%). SemAZ in Semey reported 576 commercial automobiles, while KAMAZ Engineering, Hyundai Trans Auto and Daewoo Bus Kazakhstan produced 165, 50 and 31 vehicles respectively.

Hyundai (7,800 cars), Chevrolet (4,100), Kia (3,800) and JAC (2,500) are the most popular auto brands in Kazakhstan.

In February, the car industry accounted for 49.7% of the output of the country’s machine manufacturing in total. According to AKAB, the local car market has been growing fast thanks to the activity of Chinese automakers. On the other hand, problems associated with supply chain disruption and shortage of semiconductors are gradually going away, which of course contributed to the auto industry’s growth.