Mercedes to Mazda: cars as an economic and political indicator
Business and Economics, Kazakhstan11 Comments
There is a surprising diversity of cars in Kazakh cities. They range from refurbished German and Japanese cars to Soviet era Lada. Strong economic growth has lead to a surge in car ownership and when visiting a community cars are a quick indicator of the economic vitality of the community.
Andrei, an ethnic Russian from Taldykorgan, is a new breed of automobile entrepreneurs:
“I travel to Germany where I buy used German cars then drive them to Kazakhstan where I fix them in my workshop. Then I resell them on the automarket in Almaty”.
He explains how these cars are preferred to new Russian models (less so in the North) and that they are more affordable than new foreign cars. “I have just purchased a flat bed truck with my German partner to bring cars to Kazakhstan”, he speaks of the solid market for refurbished cars.
The Kazakh government is open to the importing of used cars despite the significant bribes paid to border officials. For whatever reason they turn a blind eye even though they possess the authority to limit this flow.
Overall, the issue of cars gives a sense of Kazakhstan as a legitimate free market economy.
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[...] See similar entry related to Kazakhstan on July 20th 2006 [...]
It is a social pressure too - you are not authoritative enough if you don’t own Mercedes 600 :wink:
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[...] On a Russian version of our blog, I discussed the article about Almaty featured in NYT , where Ilan Greenberg writes about oil industry development, contruction boom and change of lifestyle in former Soviet country. I add that this has an effect on culture - growing materialism which transpires to expensive houses and luxurious cars and gets its opponents among youth - for instance this online community of anti-glamour , organizes parties in anti-glamour style. On our English language blog, Ben discussed the topic too, adding some economic data to it. Almaty and Astana may be booming, and oil accounts for16-17% of GDP, says Ben, but the rest of the country is still struggling with poverty and high uneployment rate. [...]
I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. I believe the reasons why people buy particular brands of cars or favor cars made by particular countries are complex and often deeply personal, and, thus, are often difficult to gauge.
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[...] … and it’s, obviously, transport. Whoever comes to Almaty, be it a pedestrian or a driver, feels amazed, and then intimidated by the amount of cars on the road and the disorder of driving. Nargogen.com had a detailed post a while ago interesting for all to be drivers in Almaty, including buying the driver’s license, driving on red light, not respecting the lanes and signaling on every occasion. Cars became an economic indicator, with some of them being exported from Japan (with right-hand-drive), Dubai, or are directly brought from Germany. Daewoo Tico, a once popular South-Korean model assembled in Uzbekistan, is not seen on the streets anymore. Now it’s more about Lamborghini and Jaguars with easy to remember numbers that you can also buy. [...]
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We are a Company from China, we are the seller of Truck parts, Please do contact us for any parts you need, kitade1010@myway.com
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Denmark, 02.07.07Denmark, 02.07.07
Dear Sir,
Perhaps you can help us.
We are a Danish cardealer. We selling lot used cars.
Especially, Toyota and old Mercedes cars.
Do you have a Internet portal in Kazakstan where we can sell our cars or other places where we can advertise our used cars?
We have over 500 pcs. used cars for sale to Kazakstan.
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
We are direct Sellers. No Brokers between.
Best regards
ORNDRUP BILER
Ålandsvej 1-3
8800 Viborg
Denmark
Phone: 45 86 62 10 40
Fax: 45 86 62 10 21
E-mail: oerndrupbiler@mail.dk
Claus Orndrup - manager
Mobil phone: 45 40 57 41 00
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[...] http://kazakhstan.neweurasia.net/2006/06/20/mercedes-to-mazda-cars-as-an-economic-and-political-indi... [...]
[...] (cf. http://kazakhstan.neweurasia.net/2006/06/20/mercedes-to-mazda-cars-as-an-economic-and-political-indi...) [...]