Company "Yo-engineering" is currently engaged in the development of commercial vans. The new vehicle, the cost of which is now estimated by developers in 10 thousand euro, may be on sale in 2017.

As the CEO and Chief Designer of "Yo-engineering", Andrew Ginsburg, informed the newspaper "Izvestia", in the near future the company intends to send its forces for work of new developments in the segment of commercial traffic, and the first product will be a mini bus.

According to the project "Yo-engineering", it is assumed that the mass of the vehicle will not exceed 3.5 t (it can be controlled by having a driver's license of category "B"), the metal will be used only to create a load-bearing structural elements of the car - those who are responsible for the strength and rigidity, as well as passive security. Other details, including the whole body of minivan, will be made of a combination of plastic and aluminum panels. Moreover, the plastic material will not be painted in a plant. This is one of the key components of the concept of "Yo-engineering", before it was tested on hybrid and electric "Yo-Mobile". Furthermore, as in the development of any mini bus it is assumed a similar version of the van. 

Platform for the vehicle is not selected yet: it is worked variants of the construction of the car as on existing chassis, so the borrowing of any individual units. As the power aggregate it is planned the gasoline or diesel engine combined with a manual gearbox. The basic version of the vehicle will be equipped with all-wheel drive. Since the transmission itself is not selected, the company could not say whether four-wheel drive will be permanent or it will be switched under the driver's request. It is very likely to be the national, because it is planned deep localization with the emphasis on the potential of the Russian component plants that are less dependent on fluctuations in exchange rates.

For the development of the project "Yo-engineering" it is planned to find an interested automaker, which could implement this idea on the conveyor, the second option – is any third-party company that wants to create a similar capacity, says Mr.Ginzburg. It was opened the question of choice of brand, "Yo-engineering" will not oppose if the customer wants to produce a mini bus under its own brand. According to him, the scale of investment in assembly line LCV will be small enough by the standards of the automotive industry.

"The volume of investments will depend on how the building is suitable for the plant, as well as how well it will be able to use some donor chassis components and assemblies. It is from 30 million to 50 million Euros. This amount is very modest for the automotive industry, it is due to the used technologies, as they allow the reduction of the cost very strongly of tooling and dispense with the painting line of cars. The absence of the paint shops at the plant reduces the size of the investment for at least 25-30 million Euros, and the rejection of the steel body reduces costs by at least 50 million Euro. In terms of production, we are rather modest: it will be good if we reach 5-10 thousand cars in 2017-2018”, - says Mr.Ginzburg.

According to experts, the company "Yo-Engineering" has chosen very interesting segment. "Commercial vehicle with all-wheel drive – is a direct competitor of UAZ, vehicles of which are still sold well in this niche. And if we can make a good product, it will compete successfully with the old car of Ulyanovsk plant. Another thing is how this project is ready, how thoroughly they fulfilled all the developments. On the basis of this statement the initial price may change significantly in a big way”, - said the managing partner of the consulting company EURussia Partners, Ivan Bonchev. In his view, UAZ will be interested first of all in this development, because the new car would be a logical replacement of obsolete "loaf".