2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
VW wants to produce twice as many cars in Russia in the future. A spokesman said the various options were currently being examined. So far, the Wolfsburg-based company has built 150,000 vehicles a year in its Kaluga plant.
The VW Group wants to more than double its production in Russia in the medium term to 300,000 cars a year. The background to this is a guideline of the Russian government, according to which foreign manufacturers are granted tax breaks on the import of parts if they bring at least 300,000 locally produced vehicles onto the market per year. Volkswagen submitted the documents for this program last week, said a VW spokesman on Sunday in Wolfsburg. The "Wirtschaftswoche" reported on the planned capacity expansion.
VW plant in Kaluga has a capacity of 150,000 units
The existing VW plant in Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, has a capacity of around 150,000 cars. There are three alternatives for increasing this number, said the VW spokesman. A decision has not yet been made. He didn't want to make an appointment. It would be possible to increase capacities at the Kaluga plant, add another plant there, or work with a partner - such as the Russian car manufacturer Gaz. VW had already reached an agreement with Gaz in February to build 100,000 vehicles a year at its plant in Nizhny Novgorod.
In 2010, Volkswagen increased its sales in the Russian market by around 40 percent and sold more than 130,000 vehicles - 95,000 of which were manufactured in Kaluga. The Russian government has been promoting partnerships with Western car manufacturers for a long time in order to satisfy the immense demand for cars and to modernize its own industry.
The "Wirtschaftswoche" reported that now the suppliers were also pushing their way. The Stuttgart-based Robert Bosch Group is planning to expand its factory in the Saratov area and is considering building a new factory in Russia. And the supplier Continental is also planning to set up its own tire production in Russia, "as Conti boss Elmar Degenhart recently reported. According to" Wirtschaftswoche ", Conti is about to start construction near Kaluga. (Dpa)
