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Wednesday, 19.09.2007
Carmakers flock to Russia
Moscow. Opel is coming: The Russian Ministry of the Economy has signed off on six new agreements with carmakers on setting up production. All in one day, and two of them involving General Motors.
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GM is planning an Opel plant for St. Petersburg, and also a joint venture with Russian concern GAZ to produce budget-class cars.
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The spate of deals signed Friday 14th September was due to the expiry September 15 of special customs and tax conditions for setting up car production. The Ministry of Economics did not provide details of all the deals closed at the last minute for Russia’s booming automotive market, since not all agreements had been finalised. It said merely that the total sum of investment amounted to $1.7bn.
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Opel en route for St. Petersburg
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Business daily Kommersant reported that General Motors will build an Opel plant in St. Petersburg or the surrounding Leningrad region. Production will start at 25,000 cars and then rise to 120,000. The total investment sum was put at $150m.
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GM collaborates with GAZ and VAZ - and also goes it alone
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An additional GM project will see collaboration with the GAZ group belonging to oligarch Oleg Deripaska: for a plant producing a cheap ‘people’s car’, that GM is currently developing. The car is likely to emulate the Chevrolet Lanos made in the Ukraine and successfully competing on the Russia market, and also the Renault Logan also produced in Russia.
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Possibly the GM ‘people’s car’ will be produced in Russia under the GAZ brand. Currently GAZ only sells the antiquated Volga saloon as a car model, but starting 2008 will produce the Chrysler model Siber.
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General Motors is already active in Russia with a number of operations: a moderately successful joint venture producing the Chevrolet Niva, a St. Petersburg plant will soon start producing Chevrolet models of Korean origin, and in Kaliningrad the Avtotor plant assembles some of these former Daewoo models.
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Severstal to try its luck with SsangYong and Fiat
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Kommersant reports that the remaining two projects are lanced by Severstal Avto, the owners of the UAZ car plant: One will assemble crossover models of the Korean SsangYong brand, with investment of $150m, and the other, also costing $150m, will assemble Fiat Lineas.
(ld/rufo/St.Petersburg)
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