Prime-TASS News reports that Toyota Motor Corporation, the St Petersburg city government and the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry are to sign a memorandum of intent on the construction of an auto plant in the St Petersburg area next week, Svetlana Ganeyeva, head of the investment department of the ministry said Thursday.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The official opening ceremony for the construction is set for April 26, Ganeyeva said.
In the project’s first stage, annual vehicle production is projected at 25,000, but the company plans to eventually increase the plant’s production capacity to 100,000, she said.
Toyota’s sales in Russia through its dealership network totalled 47,426 vehicles in 2004, up from 26,472 in 2003, the company said in January.
Despite strong sales of its cars in Russia, Toyota has dallied on opening a plant in Russia.
Russia’s biggest domestic producer AvtoVAZ has just announced that it is cutting its output plans for 2005, a reflection of the market’s shift towards trendier foreign makes.
AvtoVAZ will cut its 2005 output plan to 700,000 vehicles from the planned 730,000, Vedomosti reported Thursday. The newspaper said AvtoVAZ will cut it working week to five days from six days to avoid overproduction.
A source close to the company’s management said dealers have so far accumulated some 60,000 to 65,000 unsold vehicles due to the drop in demand.
