Suzuki will build a new assembly plant in Russia starting next year.
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Russian finance minister German Gref signed a deal with Suzuki on Friday 8 June in St. Petersburg which, with Ford’s Focus plant already operational and expanded, a Toyota Camry plant due to start production in December, and a Nissan plant planned, is fast becoming ‘Russia’s Detroit’.
Interfax news agency reported that Suzuki would produce its Grand Vitara and SX4 models at a rate of 30,000 units a from mid-2009. The EUR85.5m plant will be located in Schuschary, near St, Petersburg.
The automaker sold 16,118 cars in Russia in 2006, an increase of 64% over the previous year.
PSA was also expected to conclude an agreement over the weekend to build a new assembly plant in Russia. Minister Gref reportedly mentioned an investment figure of EUR300m for the PSA plant, although the French have not yet decided where to build the facility.
There have been suggestions that Mitsubishi, one of the largest importers of fully-assembled cars into Russia, may eventually ‘share’ that new plant with PSA. The French and Japanese automakers already ‘share’ Mitsubishi’s Outlander SUV in Europe, with MMC building Peugeot and Citroen-badged versions for PSA and PSA in turn supplying the 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine for all three brands’ versions.
So far, senior Mitsubishi Europe executives have told just-auto only that a Russian plant is “under consideration”.
