What will Happen to Skoda in Belarus?

How the next insanity of the authorities will affect the Belarusian drivers.

The illegitimate government published a list of "banned goods," which was drawn up to ensure the protection of national interests, "taking into account the unfriendly actions towards the Belarusian people." The list of goods prohibited for import and sale on the territory of the Republic of Belarus also includes Skoda brand products. Tut.by tried to figure out what this means.

All Skoda is banned? And the Russian one too?

Most probably not.

Since the news about the "banned goods" list appeared at the very end of the working week, and there were no explanations from the officials on it, we can only deal with the wording from the document. There, among other things, it is said that the basis for the adoption of the resolution was the presidential decree, which provides for “the introduction of a ban on the import into the territory of Belarus and the sale on its territory of certain groups of goods (including goods of individual manufacturers), the country of origin of which is the state and (or) an association of states that have decided to introduce special measures in relation to Belarusian legal entities and (or) individuals or have joined special measures in relation to Belarusian legal entities and (or) individuals adopted by other states and (or) their associations."

Here we pay attention to the wording about the country of origin. For most Skoda models sold in our market, this is Russia. It turns out that Russian-assembled cars do not fall under the ban.

The second nuance: the list of "banned goods" clearly says about the products of the Skoda Auto group of companies. Russian Skodas are produced by Volkswagen Group Rus LLC. That is, these are two completely different manufacturers.

So what was banned then?

There is only one car in the Skoda model range, which is brought from the Czech Republic - this is the Superb liftback. The Belarusian market will definitely be closed for it for at least six months, during which the ban will be in effect.

True, it is worth saying that the Russian assembly itself does not give a 100% guarantee of getting to the market either. The example with the Rapid model shows that Skoda is not insured against the ban on the sale of cars assembled in Russia. As a reminder, sales were suspended due to the order of the State Standard on the need to clarify the wording in the OTTS. It happened back in early March, and Rapid has not yet returned to the Belarusian market.

How serious is this for the car market?

The answer to this question lies in the information about what place Skoda occupies in the Belarusian market. According to the Belarusian Automobile Association, in 2020, the brand took 6th place with a result of 3682 cars. At the same time, in 2020 in Russia, according to abreview.ru, Skoda sold about 90 thousand cars. The best-selling model both in Russia and in our country is Rapid. But Superb takes the last place in the ratings. For example, in 2019, 2,131 Rapids and only 48 Superb were sold in Belarus.

Is it possible to bring a used Skoda from Europe by yourself?

The resolution does not apply to goods imported by citizens into Belarus for personal use, vehicles specified in the resolution, which are registered in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as vehicles temporarily imported into the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Based on this formulation, it turns out that it will not be possible to bring a used Skoda from Europe for personal use.

What if I already drive a banned Skoda?

Continue to drive with no worries. The government document does not introduce any prohibitions on the use of goods from the list. It is only about a ban on imports and sales.