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Mitsubishi May Build Plant in Kaluga
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade intends to sign its last investment agreement on car assembly with the Japanese Mitsubishi Co. Mitsubishi is the global partner of the French PSA Peugeot Citroen and, according to unofficial information, the companies intends to build plants in Russia in the same place in order to share facilities. The location is likely to be Kaluga, which will make it Russia's motor city No. 2, after St. Petersburg.
The proposed plant is said to have a capacity of 50,000 vehicles per year, with the possibility of doubling that amount. The cost has been estimated at $220 million. Production will begin in 2009 with the Mitsubishi Outlander XL, a new model that was presented at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in September.
The Economics Ministry stopped signing industrial assembly agreements with foreign carmakers in November, but Mitsubishi was able to sign a memorandum with the ministry before that deadline.
Statements by Nizhny Novgorod Governor Valery Shantsev imply that talks on locating the plants in that region have been unsuccessful. Kaluga is already home to a Volkswagen plant and a Volvo plant is under construction there with a launch date of 2009. If Mitsubishi and Citroen open there, the four plants will have a combined output of 400,000 vehicles per year, which is equal to the output of the five plants in St. Petersburg.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 21, 2007
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