Russian car manufacturers and the Cuban regime started nNegotiations for the commercialization of cars on the island, amid a boom in relations between the Cuban government and its Kremlin ally.
The Russian ambassador in Cuba, Viktor Koronellihe told the agency TASS that Russian companies “are interested in supplying vehicles to Cuba and they are negotiating those deliveries.”
“Our manufacturers are interested, but the embassy is not involved in these negotiations. This is not our area of responsibility. Negotiations are underway,” the diplomat explained.
For his part, AvtoVAZ, the automotive consortium manufacturer of Lada, confirmed to TASS that the negotiations are ongoing and there are possible importers involved, although the agreements have not been endorsed.
Víctor Koronelli highlighted that in Cuba they use lada vestaGranta and the new Niva, Kamaz trucks are also on the road, including new models.
He stated that the Russian car fleet is in demand on the island and quite popular, something that Moscow businessmen are undoubtedly taking advantage of.
This would be another of the steps taken by the Russian automotive industry to establish itself in Cuba. In recent months, one of Russia’s largest car manufacturers announced that it would assemble their vehicles on the island this year.
The Ulyanovsk Automobile Factory (UAZ, for its acronym in Russian) will assemble the SKD model cars, following agreements from the XI Meeting of the Business Committee between Cuba and Russia, held in Havana.
The first batch of vehicles will be delivered to Cuba in July-August 2023.
On his recent trip to Russia, the Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, tested the new Lada model, the Vesta Aurawhich has a value of 25 thousand US dollars and which he considered to be in accordance with its quality.
During an official visit, Marrero was accompanied by his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Mishustin, and representatives of AvtoVAZ, the Lada-manufacturing automotive consortium.
