A preliminary proposal regarding the program was brought before a working group formed on the orders of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a representative of the Industry and Trade Ministry told Vedomosti, without saying when a final version of the initiative would be available.
“We think the program will go into effect Jan. 1, 2010,” said Alexei Rakhmanov, the ministry’s automotive industry director.
The program aims to reduce the number of environmentally unfriendly and potentially unsafe cars on the country’s roads. Nearly 15 million cars — almost half of the total number of automobiles in the country — are aged 10 years or more, according to Avtostat.
Another no-less important goal is stimulating the sale of new domestic cars and foreign brands that are assembled in the country.
A test-run of the program will go into effect in the Moscow region, as well as in the St. Petersburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Ulyanovsk regions and possibly in the country’s Far East, Rakhmanov said.
Any car 10 years or older and weighing not more than 3.5 tons can be traded in, as long as it has been registered to its present owner for more than a year.
“The car has to be running, it should be registered with the traffic police and it should have all of the necessary documents,” Rakhmonov said.
The owner will receive a voucher for 50,000 rubles, which can only be used toward the purchase of a domestic car. There will be no restrictions on the price of the automobile being purchased, Rakhmonov said.
Cars will be traded at certain dealerships and at specialized companies.
The program will be overseen by the Industry and Trade Ministry, as well as the traffic police.
“The traffic police will find out who the car is registered with and make sure it’s not stolen. And the ministry will make sure that nobody trades in a nonexistent car or trades in the same car twice,” Rakhmonov said.
The program is still being fine-tuned, and a final version will be announced at a later date, he said, adding that the state plans to sell up to 200,000 new cars next year as a result of the program.
The initiative is expected to cost 10 billion rubles ($307 million). The Industry and Trade Ministry filed a request for the money with the Finance Ministry but has not yet received an answer.
The Finance Ministry refused requests for comment.
Automakers think that the program will do little to stimulate demand because it focuses on the wrong segment of society.
“According to our calculations, there won’t be much demand from owners of 10-year-old cars — they are not wealthy enough,” said a representative of a major domestic auto manufacturer. “They should lower the maximum age of the cars to seven years.”
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