MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. Russian major carmaker AvtoVAZ is the first automobile concern operating in Russia which announced staff lay-offs this year, as the company plans to axe 1,100 employees, the Vedomosti daily reported on Tuesday with the reference to chairman of an official trade union of the enterprise Sergey Zaitsev and a company official.
Only top managers, specialists and office staff will be dismissed. Now around 52,000, including 10,000 managers, work at the car-making plant. So, the number of the latter is planned to be cut by 11%. Staff slashes are expected to begin in April. The main reason for new dismissals is the current situation on the motor market, as Russia’s Lada sales dropped by 15% to 387,000 vehicles in 2014. The plant’s staff has been slashed by 20% in 2014.
AvtoVAZ is the largest producer of cars in Russia and Europe. Company’s plants located in Izhevsk, one of largest industrial centers in Ural and Volga River regions, and Togliatti, a city situated in the middle of the Volga River region, produce up to one million vehicles and car kits annually. AvtoVAZ has earlier announced its plans for a sharp year-on-year export growth in 2015. To reach an output of 100,000 Lada vehicles for export in 2015 was declared as a strategic task.