Russian auto parts market has great potential

Sun Yan, director and general manager of YAPP Automotive Parts Co., Ltd., said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters that Russia’s auto parts market has great potential and the global well-known automobile brand products’ market share in the Russian automobile market is rising. Yap hopes to grasp Opportunity to develop the Russian market.

Yapu Auto Parts Co., Ltd. is a group company that specializes in the development, manufacture, and sales of automotive fuel tank systems. The headquarters and R&D center are located in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. In 2010, the output of Yapp Tank was 3.75 million. It is the world's fourth largest manufacturer of plastic fuel tanks. Its main customers include Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Shanghai Automotive, and FAW Car.

Recently, the first phase project of a wholly-owned Russian subsidiary of Yap Auto Parts Co., Ltd. was completed and put into operation. Sun Yan said that the company has invested 20 million U.S. dollars in the first phase of its plant in Kaluga, Russia. The production scale is to produce 250,000 plastic fuel tanks per year. The company will also expand its production scale as soon as possible to increase the annual output of plastic fuel tanks to 500,000. In addition, the company also plans to build new factories in other parts of Russia.

Sun Yan believes that there is insufficient domestic supply of auto parts industry in Russia, a large number of parts and components need to be imported, and the localization rate of spare parts is quite low, so the market potential in this area is very large.

Sun Yan said that from the perspective of Yapp Corporation's development, internationalization is the path that must be followed for the development of Chinese companies. YAPP's internationalization road is relatively clear. It mainly adopts the strategy of following major strategic partners, that is, following global strategic partners such as Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroën, etc., to promote the development of globalization.

He said that in mature areas of the auto market, due to the complete market allocation and fierce competition, it is impossible to blindly build new factories in these mature market areas, and appropriate strategies should be adopted for the characteristics of different market regions. For example, in the process of internationalization strategy development in North America, Australia, and Western Europe, Yap is mainly engaged in mergers and acquisitions and the establishment of strategic alliances to achieve coverage of its products in different regions. In 2010, Yapp acquired a company with an annual output of 300,000 fuel tanks in Australia to achieve coverage of the company's products in the Australian region.

At present, Yap's layout in China is relatively complete, with eight production bases. In foreign countries, the international development of YAPP is steadily advancing, and a factory producing 400,000 fuel tanks per year has been built in Chennai, southern India. At present, the company's factory in the Czech Republic is also under construction and is expected to start production in February next year. The first-phase project will have a designed capacity of 400,000 filler pipes and 250,000 fuel tanks.