Six Ukrainian automobile plants produced 675 vehicles in April 2018, which is 13% less than in March 2018, the Ukrautoprom association has said. According to preliminary data, production of vehicles compared with April 2017 grew by 8.7%. Eurocar, the Skoda car manufacturer, cut production in April by 10% compared with March 2018, to 615 cars. Production grew by almost 8% year-over-year. Eurocar was the only producer of passenger cars in Ukraine in April.
Bus production fell by 13% compared with March 2018, to 54, including three buses made by ZAZ, one each by Bogdan Corporation and Chernihiv Automobile Plant of Etalon Corporation. Chasiv Yar Plant made 14 buses, and Cherkasy Bus – 35.
Only six commercial vehicles were made – one at ZAZ and five at Cherkasy Bus, while in March 2018 a total of 62 vehicles were made and in February – 80.
AutoKrAZ did not provide information on its production figures.
The association said that in January-April 2018, vehicle production grew by 32.7% year-over-year, to 2,739. Passenger car output grew by 31%, to 2,383 (all made at Eurocar), bus production – by 16%, to 255, and commercial vehicle output (without figures of AutoKrAZ) fell by 34%, to 101.
Ukraine and Malaysia are working out plans to expand bilateral military and technical cooperation, and the Malaysian side shows its interest in procurement and joint production of a wide range of Ukrainian weapons, the press service of the Ukroboronprom State Concern reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, military and technical cooperation between Ukraine and Malaysia became the subject of negotiations between Ukroboronprom Head Pavlo Bukin and Malaysia’s top military leadership, which were held as part of the 16th Defense Services Asia 2018 (DSA) exhibition, which is taking place in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on April 16-19.
According to the report, Bukin, in particular, held a meeting with Chief of Army General Tan Sri Dato Zulkiple Bin Hj Kassim during which they discussed the possibility of supplying the Malaysian side with Ukrainian-made 4×4 combat vehicles. During the talks, the chief of the Malaysian army expressed his country’s interest in acquiring Ukrainian ATGMs from Luch Design Bureau. At the same time, the sides stressed the need to intensify the work of the bilateral commission on military and technical cooperation, the report says.
Bukin also held talks with Chief of Navy Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Hj Ahmad Badaruddin, during which they discussed the possibility of supplying to Malaysia the floating docks manufactured by Pallada Kherson State Plant, part of Ukroboronprom, as well as the possibility of establishing cooperation for their production with a Thai manufacturer.
In addition, as part of the exhibition, Bukin met with Commander of the Royal Malaysian Air Force General Dato Seri Affendi Buang.
“The sides discussed a range of issues on cooperation in the field of aircraft building. In particular, they talked about the possibility of supplying to Malaysia the Antonov airplanes with the possibility of localization of production facilities. A separate topic of the talks was also the possibility of supplying Ukrainian vertical take-off and landing UAVs to the Malaysian side,” the report says.
