Official opening

On January 31, 2024 a machine-building complex Wagnermaier was ceremonially opened in the territory of the technical park «Synergy» (Special Economic Zone «Alabuga», Tatarstan). Rustam Minnikhanov, the Head (Rais) of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Subkhankulov, the executive director of «Wagnermaier Russland», partners and suppliers of the factory, representatives of mass media participated in the event.

Wagnermaier is a joint venture with a leading European manufacturer of linehaul machines. Partners implements in Russia a project for the production localization of tilt-covered semi-trailers according to the European technology. Aleksandr Shmidt, the technological consultant of the project, responsible for consistency control of semi-trailers Wagnermaier with stringent European standards, noted: «Production implementation of such level in Russia was a challenging task. However, despite all happenings of past years, we believe in the Russian market and that we are able to find a niche here».

A limited series of 25 semi-trailers with a special livery was produced in honor of opening the production of Wagnermaier. This livery shows the timeline of stages of large investments by German companies in the Russian economy during the period from 1852 to 2023.

Over the years the European brands of tilt-covered semi-trailers in Russia occupied more than a half of the whole market. When they left the market because of sanctions, the segment faced the deficit: there are not enough domestic products, orders are scheduled for months and years ahead. Evgenii Popravka, the director of Полуприцеп.рф Company (an exclusive distributor of Wagnermaier in Russia and CIS countries), provided the branch-wise statistics:

«In 2021 in sales of Cargo carriers semi-trailers 56% were occupied by manufacturers from the European Union and 37% were occupied by the Russian manufacturers, respectively. In 2023 the share of the Russian companies grew up to 65%, and the share of manufacturers from the European Union dropped to 18% (the remaining 17% were occupied by products from friendly countries). Machines of the European brands are still present at the Russian market and even have a notable share, but they all are supplied under the parallel import scheme. However, this logistics is complicated. The price of semi-trailers becomes significantly higher along the way, but anyway they are still in demand because of the deficit in offer from domestic manufacturers and the demand for the European quality, which is in demand among the Russian cargo transportation companies. At the same time over the past five years, regardless of the pandemics and sanctions, the market of semi-trailers has significantly grown up. There is a reason for this: about 1,2 mln of semi-trailers are registered in Russia, their average age is 22 years, while the forecasted useful life of these machines is nine years. Whereby 70 percent of the total quantity, and this is 800 thousand semi-trailers, is older than 12 years. Production capacities of all domestic manufacturers allow to upgrade this out-of-date fleet in full only after 20 years. During this time machines will get out of date once again. That is why there is a real request from the sector to launch new production sites».

There are about 1,2 mln of semi-trailers registered in Russia (as of January 2023), and 70% of them are machines older than 12 years

Rustam Subkhankulov, the executive director of «Wagnermaier Russland», commented the production localization project and told about plans of its further development: «An official opening of a machine-building complex is only a first step. In the nearest time we plan to start the around-the-clock work and to reach the project capacity of three thousand semi-trailers per year. The production is focused on the output of only one type of semi-trailers. It is compact, automated and high-performance. This limitation in nomenclature ensures a persistently high quality standard, and this is also the European attitude towards the production. Wagnermaier is the only factory in Russia, which specializes in producing only tilt-covered semi-trailers. It means that the factory outputs only one model and two body sizes: of the standard European length (13,6 meters) and with the elongated (up to 16,5 meters) platform. The last semi-trailer is designed and suitable especially for cargo transportation inside Russia. The increase of the production localization share is also an important issue for us. In perspective it shall reach 75%. For this we launch joint development projects with the Russian partners. Now we have six R&D activities related to the localization: production of the sliding roof, landing gear and composite bump stop, LED lamp, ladder and side columns».

Conducted tour of Wagnermaier Factory: Rustam Minnikhanov, the Head (Rais) of the Republic of Tatarstan (in center) with Rustam Subkhankulov, the executive director of «Wagnermaier Russland» (to the right)

Watch a small movie from the opening of a machine-building complex Wagnermaier. You can see with your own eyes, how the factory, organized according to the European standards, is equipped, which technologies are applied for making the frame lighter but heavy-duty at the same time, how modern Cargo carriers semi-trailers are completed.

https://youtu.be/2eT7ysKOnqU?si=qV5KAiUW86GOLsrP