Great Wall Motor sells 14 vehicles to Russia in H1

Great Wall Motor Co. has only sold 14 vehicles to Russia so far this year, according to Xinhua.

Zhang Xinguang, general manager of Great Wall Motor's Russia unit, said Russia raised duties on imports, and that made the semi-knockdown or SKD process not applicable any more. SKD process refers to sending a partially-built car and the rest of the parts of the vehicle to Russia and then finishing assembly of the vehicle there.

Since last November, the Russia government raised the import tax on complete vehicles to 15 percent, and no less than 5,000 euros on each imported car body part.

In addition, the Russian ruble devaluation and shrinking auto market demand affected exports of China's second largest manufacturer of sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Last year, Great Wall Motor exported 14,000 units to Russia, and was aiming for 2,000-3,000 units for 2009.

Zhang said the company was planning a complete knock-down or CKD process, which is to export all the auto parts to Russia and assemble them there.