General Motors Corp (GM) was set to break ground yesterday on its first fully owned plant in Russia, joining the rush by foreign automakers to get in on the country's burgeoning car market.
The GM plant in Shushary, outside St. Petersburg, will be the latest in a slew of foreign car plants springing up in Russia, where Ernst & Young has estimated that the market grew by 14.4 percent last year to 1.84 million vehicles per year. Sales of new foreign cars rose 60 percent last year to 563,400.
Last month, Volkswagen AG signed an agreement with the Russian government to build a US$500 million plant outside Moscow that will produce 115,000 vehicles a year. GM's plant will be smaller, with an annual production capacity of 25,000 cars -- the Chevrolet Aveo and Lucetti models.
Three other foreign car companies -- Japan's Toyota Motor Corp, France's Renault SA, and South Korea's Kia Motors Corp -- launched plants in Russia last year, and Japan's Nissan Motors was to sign a ceremonial agreement on a 50,000-vehicle capacity plant in St. Petersburg yesterday.
The Shushary plant will not be GM's first foray into the Russian automobile market. It is currently involved in a US$340 million joint venture with the Russian automaker AvtoVaz to produce Chevy Niva sport utility vehicles and Viva sedans. That venture is continuing in the city of Togliatti despite a parts dispute between the two companies that halted production for several days in February.
The two sides were also unable to agree on the joint construction of an engine plant in the city of Samara last year, with AvtoVaz saying it feared it would be unable to recoup its investment. AvtoVaz last year was effectively taken over by Rosoboronexport, the state arms export agency.
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