The joint venture between Russian car maker Sollers and Fiat is seeking a EUR2.1bn (US$2.6bn) loan from VEB bank.
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According to the Interfax news agency, Fiat and Sollers are planning to to invest EUR2.4bn (US$2.9bn) in a venture to produce up to 500,000 Fiat cars a year.
Sollers director general, Vadim Shvetsov, told Interfax: “In the beginning of July we will officially apply to VEB. By the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012 we will produce 300,000 cars per year.”
State-owned VEB is an investment vehicle charged by the government to support the modernisation of the Russian economy.
The Russian car industry is recovering after annual sales halved amid the global economic crisis in 2009. New car sales growth accelerated 31% year-on-year in May, but for the year to date remain 5% below the same period in 2009.
