SAMARA, April 4 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in Samara for a working trip, during which he will visit the AvtoVAZ plant and will launch batch production of a new utility vehicle model, Lada Largus, as well as will hold a session to discuss the future of Russia’s car industry after accession to the WTO.
Heads of Russian car plants as well as foreign car manufacturers operating on the Russian market will take part in the session.
The Russian car market became Europe's second-largest by the scope of sales amounting to 2.8 million vehicles in 2011, after Germany, and the world's fourth one after China, the United States, and Germany.
As compared with 2010, car sales last year grew by almost 40 percent, while truck sales by more than a half. In the past few years, the world's major automotive giants have set up their production plants in the Russian Federation. A special industrial assembly treatment has been introduced for them, granting a number of privileges under production localization conditions.
The manufacture of Lada Largus vehicles is the first large-scale joint project of AvtoVAZ and the Renault-Nissan alliance which, as of now, owns 25 percent of stake plus one share. The partners intend to establish the production of up to 350,000 vehicles a year on the VO (vertical offset) platform. Expenses on the start-up of the new production process ran at about 400 million euros (AvtoVAZ - 25 percent, Renault - 50 percent, and Nissan - 25 percent)
This vehicle is adapted for operation in Russia's conditions. It will be turned out in the form of seven- and five-seat cars and a freight-carrying truck.
AvtoVAZ is one of the biggest car plants in Europe, its production facilities make it possible to produce up to 800,000 vehicles a year. It occupies an area over 600 hectares, and the total area of its buildings is over four million square meters. The length of assembly lines is 300 kilometers. About 270 enterprises supply car components for the plant.
About 66,000 people work at the plant at the moment, and the average age is 40. A total of 21,000 workers are young people below 30. During the crisis, the plant received sizable state support and managed to step up production once again in 2010, while in 2011 the pre-crisis figures were exceeded.
By 2020, AvtoVAZ production facilities are to turn out up to 1,200,000 cars of Lada, Renault, and Nissan brands.