In the Novohrad-Volynsky region, law enforcement officers caught up and forcibly stopped a Nissan minibus, which contained 27 bags of amber, the police communication department of Zhytomyr region reports.
“At about 20:00 on 255 kilometer of the Kyiv-Chop highway, near Povchyno village, Novohrad-Volynsky district, the patrolmen forcibly stopped a Nissan car. Moving through the territory of Rivne region, the driver violated several traffic rules and did not stop at the request of the police, so they decided to catch up with him and check. As it turned out, the driver avoided talking to the police because of the cargo in the minibus,” a message on the police website says.
So, when inspecting the car, it turned out that the driver was transporting 27 bags of stones that looked like raw amber. However, in order to avoid administrative and criminal liability, the driver, 51-year-old resident of Chernivtsi region, offered the police EUR 1,000 of inappropriate benefits.
The discovered stones were seized and transferred for safekeeping at the State Directorate of the National Police in Zhytomyr region, an expert study was appointed.
The pretrial investigation is carried out in accordance with Article 240-1 (illegal extraction, sale, acquisition, transfer, shipment, transportation, processing of amber) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The police also documented the circumstances of improper benefits offer to the patrolmen. On this fact, criminal proceedings have been initiated under Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Due to lockdown restrictions in April-May 2020, some 55% of car owners reduced the number of trips made with a privately owned car, while 26% of respondents reduced the number of trips by more than 40%, according to the results of a sociological survey conducted by Factum Group on demand of A-95 Consulting Group, the group said in a press release.
In addition, Factum Group conducted the sociological survey in three stages, namely, at the end of March, when lockdown restrictions were the strictest, in April and May, when the population’s activity began to increase sharply.
At the beginning of the survey, the number of respondents who reduced fuel consumption by personal vehicles was 46.4%, this figure increased to 55% in May.
A fifth of the car owners surveyed said that lockdown did not affect the intensity of personal vehicles’ use. However, some 24% of respondents, on the contrary, increased the number of trips for that period.
According to the results of the Factum Group survey, more than half of the respondents positively evaluated the safety measures taken by filling station’s operators during lockdown.
In addition, Factum Group studied consumer sentiment, according to which the price remains the key criterion for choosing filling stations for 44% of car owners. About a third of the respondents are ready to change the usual operator of fuel station in case of a difference in price from UAH 3 to UAH 5 per a liter. A quarter of respondents value the brand of the filling station chain and its reputation the most.
According to the analysts of the A-95 Consulting Group, the price gap that has developed between different filling station chains, largely redistributed sales.”Lockdown in Ukraine has strengthened the polarization of petroleum products consumers, namely, already 44% of car owners are ready to change the usual filling station to cheaper one, while traditionally this figure does not exceed 30%. According to our data, the filling station chains, which are discount stations lost less the volume of sales compared to brand chains with high price positions,” the group said in the press release, citing analyst at A-95 Consulting Group Artem Kuyun.
Tough sanctions for violation of the rules of importing cars with foreign registration came into force on August 22, State Fiscal Service of Ukraine said on its website.
“Let us remind that according to new rules a fine in an amount of UAH 85,000 was set if a term of delivery of the vehicles of personal and commercial use delayed by 20-30 days,” the service said.
The rules say that in terms of delay by 30 days, or if the vehicle is damaged or disassembled, the size of the fine will be UAH 170,000 or the car will be subject to confiscation.
The similar fines will be paid under violating of terms of temporarily import of the vehicles: UAH 85,000 fine for failure to meet 20-30 days of deadline, UAH 170,000 or confiscation of the vehicle in case of damage or disassembling of the vehicle.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is going to put to the parliament a bill that postpones fines for three months. During this period, the working group is to draw out a new bill that regulates rules of disassembling of new or already used vehicles, which are in Ukraine or will be imported to Ukraine.
The primary registrations of new passenger cars in May 2019 grew by 1.6% compared with May 2018, to 6,900 units (the same as in April 2019), the Ukrautoprom association reported on Monday.
Last month, Toyota enjoyed the greatest demand among Ukrainians, which registrations grew by almost 46% to 1,238 units, while the leader of April, Renault, ranked second with sales growth of 29% compared to May 2018, to 967 units.
Despite a slight lag (0.6%) of its last year’s figure, Hyundai took the third place, with 501 registered cars. Nissan is the fourth in the May rating with 468 cars sold and a 26% increase.
KIA is fifth (in April, entered the top three) with 445 cars sold (a rise of 18%).
Meanwhile, according to the AUTO-Consulting information and analytical group, the new passenger cars market in May grew by 3.3% compared with May last year, but decreased by 2.9% compared to April, to 6,910 units. At the same time, the group estimates the change in the positions of brands in the rating as “tectonic.”
Toyota also ranks first with sales growth of 26.3% compared to April of the current year and a market share of 18.05%, Renault was in the second place with a drop of 13.4% and a share of 14.4%.
Hyundai moved up to rank three from sixth in April, increasing sales by 29.7%, to 493 cars, and growth ensured a change in the position for Volkswagen and Mitsubishi (respectively, seventh from eighth in April, eighth from 13th).
According to AUTO-Consulting, in January-May 2019, 32,051 new passenger cars were sold in Ukraine, which is 0.5% less than a year earlier.
AIS group of companies, a large operator in the automotive and special vehicles market, in January-October of this year increased car sales by 27% compared with the same period last year, to 5,500 units, the press service of the company has said.
“AIS shows a positive trend, despite the fact that the automotive market is stagnating and began to show negative dynamics,” the report says.
The income of the group of companies for this period amounted to UAH 2.7 billion, obligatory payments to the national budget (VAT, duty, excise) amounted to UAH 0.9 billion.
According to the company, during this period sales of Geely cars increased by 51%, Citroen by 33%, Peugeot by 102%. In addition, sales of MAZ trucks showed an increase of 150%.
The business program AIS AutoTrade for used cars showed a sales growth of 57%. The company is also the leader in sales of the automobile brands Renault, Citroen, Ravon, and others in Ukraine.
Among the factors contributing to the sales growth are a number of ongoing programs. In particular, due to financial products, credit/leasing sales reached 30% with the average market indicators standing at 10%-15%.
Discussions are currently underway with the leadership of the Renault Group on the possibility of placing the production of this group’s cars in Ukraine, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said. “I met with the managers of a leading automaker, French company Renault, and now we are discussing the possibilities of placing the production of Renault cars in Ukraine,” Groysman wrote on his Facebook page. He noted that this would create additional jobs and expand the country’s export capabilities. The head of government expressed confidence that Ukraine could become a regional hub of automotive production. “We already have excellent examples of the work of enterprises producing both knots and parts and finished products for the Ukrainian and European markets,” Groysman said.
According to the website of the Ukrainian government, the meeting was attended by Senior Vice President, Chairman of the Renault Group for the Eurasian region Nicolas Maure, who also serves as President and CEO of PJSC AvtoVAZ (Russia), and Executive Vice-President for Sales and Marketing at PJSC AvtoVAZ Jan Ptacek, who headed Renault Ukraine until 2014.
The Renault Group has been making cars since 1898. Today it is an international multi-brand group, selling close to 3.5 million vehicles in 127 countries in 2016, with 36 manufacturing sites, 12,700 points of sale and employing more than 120,000 people.
