Doninvest Moves into Ossetia
The Doninvest Group may build its third auto assembly plant in Russia, this one in North Ossetia. The group has requested a plot of land from local authorities there. The cost of the project has been estimated at $100 million and it may make the group one of Russia’s largest carmakers with a capacity of 400,000-450,000 vehicles. The Ossetian plant will have an initial capacity of 50,000 vehicles, with the possibility of increasing it to 100,000. It will employee about 7000 people. If North Ossetian authorities agree to the project, a memorandum will be signed next month and construction will begin within six months.
Kommersant’s source did not specify what models would be assembled at the Ossetian plant, but said they would be determined before the end of the year. Doninvest announced at the beginning of this week that it had reached an agreement on the assembly of the Chinese Chery in Russia. At TagAZ (the Taganrog Automobile Plant, owned by Doninvest), they confirm their intentions of building a plant in North Ossetia, but are making no other comments.
There is a general trend throughout the Russian auto industry to increase production capacity now. Observers are at a loss to explain the choice of location for the new plant, however. They speculate that Doninvest may be counting on tax and other benefits in exchange for creating the new jobs, or that the new plant is a “social project.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 22, 2008
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