MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Toyota is not returning to Russia, the Mazda and Toyota brands have no real plans to enter the Russian market at the moment, auto expert Maxim Kadakov told TASS.
Earlier, the information resource Auto Mail wrote that the Japanese automobile corporation Toyota had resumed sales in Russia.
"We should take calmly all these statements that some company has started selling something. <…> Today cars are being delivered, tomorrow they may not be delivered, tomorrow they will deliver some or other models, modifications, and so on. Therefore, we will hear periodically that some company has also started delivering cars. So, there is no official return to the market," he said.
The expert explained that in order to start official sales, the company should have a representative office in the country and certify its cars for sales on this particular market.
"What is an official sale? First, it is the return of the company to the market in the form of a representative office. Second, it is official direct sales of cars that are certified for the Russian market. So, having a representative office is not enough. We have representative offices of Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Suzuki, but they do not officially sell cars. So, we need a representative office, we need official cars, and for this they need to be certified, they need a type-approval of motor vehicles," he summed up.