Kazakhstan to produce 300 000 cars a year

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and new Technology believes Kazakhstan-based car-assembling plants will be able to produce 300 000 cars a year, Newskaz.ru reports, citing the First Vice Minister of Industry and New Technology Albert Rau as saying. “Our dream is to produce 300 000 cars a year … it’s with due consideration of the domestic demand and planned exports”, Mr. Rau said when speaking at a round-table discussion focused on car making industry issues. He elaborated that in 2012 a total of 100 000 new cars had been sold in Kazakhstan, with 20 000 of them being domestically produced. According to him, the domestic demand is much higher than that as currently most of the 4 million cars registered in Kazakhstan are previously owned cars imported from abroad. “These used cars will need recycling in some years’ time. And, as one of my colleagues jokingly said, those owning a car will never walk and rely on public transport again. So these car owners are prospective buyers of domestically produced new cars”, Mr. Rau said. He also briefed that the interested ministries are drafting a strategy to develop the national car making industry. The draft strategy envisages three scenarios that depend on the country’s GDP, growing well-being of common people and state support to the industry”. The Ministry wants to have the strategy adopted as early as this year.