Toyota Invests in Saving Money in Russia
Toyota will begin making body parts for its automobiles in Russia. This step will lower its production costs by 10-15 percent. The necessary additional $30-40 million in investment in its assembly will bring the value of its Russian project to $150 million. Analysts say that the company may be planning to make Russia the base for sales to all of the CIS and Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The new facilities, announced yesterday by chief Toyota representative in St. Petersburg Ichiro Chiba, will most likely be built at Toyota's plant that is under construction in the Shushary industrial zone on the edge of St. Petersburg. The plans have yet to be approved by the Toyota oversight board. The plant is to begin running in time to produce 16,000 cars in 2008, and before reaching a capacity of 50,000 vehicles per year, with the possibility of producing 200,000 in the future.
Toyota's original plans called only for assembly and painting in Russia. Volkswagen will also stamp its own parts in Russia. It is building a ˆ370-million plant in Kaluga Region that will produce 115,000 vehicles per year. PSA Peugeot-Citroen is looking for a site for a stamping facility as well. It will build a plant with a capacity of 60,000 vehicles at a cost of ˆ254 million.
www.kommersant.ru
All the Article in Russian as of May 23, 2007
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