Central Asia and Kazakhstan comprise an ex-Soviet region of over 50 million people linked over vast expanses of steppe and desert by a diaphanous net of pot-holed roads.
Mercedes do not so much purr as lurch over these highways, but an increasing number of nouveau riche are buying luxury cars which cost hundreds of times the average annual wage.
"I am surprised too at how people can afford them, but they can," said Tony Larsson, sales manager for Sweden's Volvo Car International AB, speaking in Kazakhstan's capital Almaty.
Volvo has sold about 500 cars since 1992 in Kazakhstan, a country of 17 million people which many predict may become a wealthy state within 10 years due to major oil exports.
Larsson said 2,000 or 3,000 foreign cars could be sold in Kazakhstan this year. In about five years' time, around 5,000 to 6,000 top-end foreign cars may be sold annually.
Other car manufacturers appear to be similarly optimistic. Mercedes, Renault, Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, Daewoo, Skoda and others all rented space at Kazakhstan's first motor show last month.
Amid publicity stunts like a "Miss Motor Show" beauty pageant, companies negotiated deals as tens of thousands of people came to look.
"While the show is going on, we will sign two contracts with local dealerships to start our business in Kazakhstan," said Jakob Dockter, Volkswagen AG's manager for Central Asia.
Both Dockter and Larsson said they were interested in expanding sales to other countries in the region, especially Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Sales to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are also possible.
Mercedes has already opened a dealership in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan's resource-rich southern neighbor with a population of 22 million. Other manufacturers may follow suit.
"We have many people looking for potential markets. This process is going on intensively," said Volvo's Larsson.
The push for markets on the fringes of the former Soviet superpower has been propelled partly by fading interest in Russian sales after Moscow raised import tariffs to 120 percent. Central Asian nations and Kazakhstan -- unlike Russia -- have no ailing domestic car industries to protect from foreign competitors so their tariffs are lower.
Foreign company representatives say import duties are not significantly damaging prospects.
Foreign diplomats and bankers say a vast imbalance between rich and poor in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics is behind the sales of luxury foreign cars.
The average wage in Kazakhstan is about 400 tenge (about $9) a month but a new class of entrepreneurs and corrupt officials can afford to pay $120,000 for a new Mercedes 600.
Car salesmen say pent-up demand and high disposable incomes due to the low cost of food and utilities help boost demand.
But while some car makers concentrate on exporting luxury models, South Korea's Daewoo Corporation is involved in a joint venture in Uzbekistan aimed at undercutting Russian competition.
Chung Hee-choo, Daewoo's executive managing director for Central Asia, said his company's $658 million project with Uzbekistan's government would start production in early 1996.
Production was expected to be 26,000 vehicles that year, rising to 160,000 by the year 2000, Chung said.
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