Toyota Motor Corporation may decide on the site for its assembly plant in Russia in February, Grigory Dvas, governor of the Leningrad Region said, according to the Prime-Tass news agency.
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Dvas reportedly said Toyota was considering a number of sites in several Russian regions, including St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.
Dvas told Prime-Tass that Toyota representatives were shown a site in the Volosovsky district near a highway linking St. Petersburg to the Ust-Luga port, currently under construction. Toyota’s main requirement was that the site should be located no more than 50-60 kilometres (30-40 miles approx.) from the city, he added. Toyota also received a guarantee that it would be able to purchase the land in future, Dvas said.
The news agency noted that, as Toyota will be granted profit and property tax benefits at the initial stage, the region’s administration does not expect large revenues for the regional budget. However, in the first five or six years needed for the project to break even, the administration expects increased investment in the region and construction in the region.
The region also expects to create a free economic zone at the Ust-Luga port, the report said.
Prime-Tass noted that Toyota president Fujio Cho said on January 20 that the company had postponed starting construction of an assembly plant in Russia.
Cho reportedly said that it would take “a little more time” before the company builds an assembly plant in Russia but did not give any specific dates.
On November 1, 2004, Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of Toyota’s board of directors, said that the company planned to build an assembly plant in Russia by 2006, Prime-Tass added.
