The Opel brand in Ukraine in 2020 increased sales of cars (passenger cars and LCVs) by 84% compared to 2019, to 732 vehicles with an overall decline of this market by 2.2% (to 95,500 vehicles), the press service of the PSA group’s representative office in Ukraine, Peugeot Citroen Ukraine, has reported.
According to the report, sales growth was primarily driven by well-known models of the brand: the Opel Grandland X crossover (248 vehicles sold, which is 92% more), the Opel Crossland X compact crossover (174 vehicles, twice more) and the Opel Astra sedan (156 vehicles, 28% more).
Last year, several new models also debuted on the Ukrainian market, in particular, the sixth generation Opel Corsa, sales of which began in the middle of the year, and 37 cars were sold at the end of the year.
In addition, sales of Opel Combo commercial vehicles (passenger version of Combo Life and commercial van Combo Cargo) began in 2020, of which 84 were sold.
“Thanks to the launch of the line of commercial vehicles, the Opel brand is returning to the LCV segment again as a serious player and intends to significantly increase sales in 2021,” the press service said, specifying that last year a full line of Opel commercial vehicles was presented in Ukraine: Combo Life, Zafira Life, Combo Cargo, Vivaro, and Movano.
According to the report, despite all the problems and limitations of 2020, Opel continued developing its own dealer network in Ukraine, in particular, two new dealers were opened in the autumn of the year: Addis-Motors (Odesa) and Newton (Cherkasy), which are the only representatives of the brand in these cities.
At the end of the year, the brand’s dealer network includes 11 representative offices (three in Kyiv, one each in Dnipro, Lviv, Zaporizhia, Poltava, Kharkiv, Khmelnitsky, Odesa and Cherkasy), and four service partners who can carry out service without losing the guarantee: in Kyiv (two), Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr.
The international hotel operator Accor (France) has signed a management contract for the Swissotel Living hotel at 13 Luteranska Street in Pechersky district of Kyiv, the opening of which is scheduled for 2021-2022. “This will be an aparthotel designed for long and medium-term accommodation (extended stay). The owner of the hotel and Accor believe that this format has good prospects in the city,” Accor New East Europe Development Director Yekateryna Marchenko told Interfax-Ukraine.
The object will be housed in a historic building near Khreschatyk Street, after restoration it will have 58 rooms.
The expert noted that before joining the Accor chain, the Swissotel brand already made attempts to enter the Ukrainian hotel market, but the planned projects were not implemented.
Accor Group is one of the leading hotel operators in the world. It opened its first hotel under the Novotel brand in Lille (France) in 1967.
Private joint-stock company Volodymyr-Volynsky Poultry Farm (Volyn region), part of Openmind Group, calls to sign a petition to ban from using antibiotics in agriculture and refuse applying them posted on the website of the president of Ukraine.
“The worldwide recognized problem of antibiotic resistance is the focus of the WHO [World Health Organization] and leading countries. Experience shows the impossibility of production without the use of antibiotics. It does not require significant investments, but needs serious changes in business processes, standards, as well as internal discipline of companies for events that need to be implemented,” CEO of Openmind Group of Companies Oleksiy Kovalenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
He focused on the fact that the refusal to use antibiotics in agriculture, including the production of chicken meat, is impossible without appropriate government support and amendments to the legislation.
“We urge everyone to support this petition so that it has 25,000 votes and becomes mandatory for consideration,” he said.
According to Kovalenko, in Ukraine, the market for antibiotic-free chicken meat is still estimated at only 2%.
PrJSC Volodymyr-Volynsky Poultry Farm is a Ukrainian-Dutch enterprise, part of the Openmind group of companies. The factory’s infrastructure includes 100 poultry farms, a processing workshop and a feed mill, as well as land for planting fodder crops.
The company is certified under ISO 2200:05 and is implementing HACCP principles in production of raw materials and finished products.
At the end of 2017, the poultry farm launched a unique product on the Ukrainian market – chicken meat without antibiotics and growth stimulants under the Epicurus brand, and in 2019 began the construction of a new meat processing workshop worth EUR 38 million.
AIS Group of Companies, an exclusive distributor of China’s FAW Group brand cars in Ukraine, plans start selling five models of cars under this brand in all categories (small tonnage, small commercial, medium tonnage and heavy tonnage vehicles) on Ukrainian market in the next few months of this year. As the company’s press release said, the start of sales was scheduled for October. A FAW B30 compact passenger sedan with a 1.6-liter petrol engine rated at 109 l/s with a 6-speed AISIN Japan’s automatic transmission will be the first model to sell.
It also planned to start selling a FAW X40 compact crossovers with a 1.6-liter petrol engine rated at 109 l/s with manual transmission.
“These models will be competitive to European, Korean, Chinese brands, which will be offered under the most affordable price,” the company said in its press release.
Besides, the company will offer a FAW Tiger VR small commercial vehicle with a carrying capacity of up to 1.5 tonnes with a 2.3-liter Weichai diesel engine with 110 l/s, with a reinforced frame and chassis, anti-lock braking system and power steering; and a FAW Tiger V medium tonnage truck with a load capacity of 4.7 tonnes with a 3.8-liter Cummins diesel engine with 139 l/s and ZF transmission.
“It is planned that a FAW Tiger model line will compete with GAZ commercial and cargo vehicles,” the Group said.
Moreover, by the end of the year market will see two modifications of large tonnage dump trucks FAW J6P 6х4 и FAW J6P 8х4 of wheel configuration, engine power 375 l/s and 390 l/s and a load capacity of 19 and 23.6 tonnes respectively.
Leading world leaders alike Bosch, Wabco, Sachs, ZF, Fast, Eisenmann, TRW, Tenneco and others are suppliers of the component parts for production of FAW cargo vehicles.
As reported, the AIS Group, a leading operator selling and servicing vehicles for business in Ukraine, signed an exclusive distribution agreement with China First Automotive Group Corporation (FAW).
Under the agreement, the AIS Group will present FAW trucks in Ukraine.
AIS group of companies, established in 1992, is the national network of auto centers and service stations, spares stores, a manufacturing enterprise, regional automobile warehouses and a logistics center for storage and distribution of spare parts, a customs and licensed warehouse, and a motor transport company.
British-based IWG Plc, which provides rental services for office space and temporary workplaces, plans to open a nine-storey office space under the Spaces brand in the Maidan Plaza business center (Kyiv). “In 2019, the first center of the global network of creative space for work Spaces will open in Kyiv. The Maidan Plaza business center was chosen as the location. The space of 6,100 square meters for 600 workplaces will occupy nine floors at once. The official opening of the first stage of the premises is scheduled for August,” according to a press release from Spaces in Ukraine.
According to the report, one of the key components of the Spaces concept are also regular events – both business and lifestyle. The goal is not only to provide new opportunities for development, but also inspire the creation of ideas, encourage the use of non-standard approaches in solving daily operational problems, and promote networking.
The Spaces brand was founded in 2006 and is managed by IWG. The Spaces premises are located in 39 countries of the world (including the Netherlands, the United States and Australia) and 150 locations. The format of Spaces offices is designed to promote the active development of business – from entrepreneurs and startups to major corporations.
The primary registrations of imported used cars in Ukraine in January-June 2019 totaled 250,100, which is almost six times more than a year ago, the Ukrautoprom association has reported.
The Volkswagen brand remains the leader of registrations in the first six months of 2019 (48,793), Opel is in the second position (24,414), Audi is third (19,072), Renault is fourth (18,822), and Skoda is fifth (17,766.).
According to the association, in June, the Ukrainians registered 19,200 imported used cars, which was the lowest since the beginning of the year, but compared to June last year, registration increased 2.2-fold.
Cars aged from 5 to 10 accounted for the largest share in the registrations of used imported cars – 46%. Cars older than 10 years covered 35% of the June market, the remaining 19% were cars under the age of five years.
The most popular Volkswagen brand registered 2,960 vehicles last month, followed by Skoda (1,742), Renault (1,588), Ford (1,393) and Opel (1,321).
BRAND, IMPORTED, LEADER, REGISTRATIONS, USED CARS, VOLKSWAGEN
