The automaker criticized the mechanism for purchasing cars for taxis

Russian car factories are ready to meet the demand of taxi companies, but those, in turn, will have to forget about price dumping. This was stated at a meeting in the Federation Council on increasing the production of taxi cars by Andrey Reznikov, director of the Department for interaction with government agencies of the manufacturer of hybrids and electric vehicles Evolute and Voyah.

According to him, as of January 2025, inventories of commercial vehicles in the Russian Federation reached 9-12 months. This, together with the level of the key interest rate, brought down prices and led to large-scale losses for automakers and distributors.

"Taxi companies took advantage of the situation and dictated price conditions to manufacturers. There were examples of deliveries of cars with internal combustion engines with a loss for the manufacturer from 500 thousand to 1 million rubles per unit. Additional pressure is created by "gray" imports, when you can find taxis with exclusively Chinese language on the driver's displays, which are clearly not intended for foreign markets, and even more so for use in public transport. This dumping allowed aggregators and taxi companies to generate high profits on a cheap fleet while maintaining low tariffs," the expert noted.

Reznikov proposed to develop a transparent pricing mechanism that takes into account the costs of manufacturers for localization, warranty and ensures their profitability.

"We are ready to annually supply the taxi market with more than 30 thousand electric vehicles and Evolute hybrids for budget fares, as well as the required number of premium Voyah brand cars for the Ultra segment," he added.

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On October 1, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation published a primary list of cars that meet the requirements of the law on taxi localization, which will be operational from March 2026. More than 20 models of six Russian brands meet the criteria of the law. The list includes Lada, UAZ, Sollers, Moskvich, Evolute and Voyah models.

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