Suzuki scouting plant sites in Russia
Anna Smolchenko | Automotive News / April 17, 2007 - 3:08 pm
MOSCOW -- Suzuki Motor Corp. is considering building an auto assembly plant in Russia and is now in talks with officials here, in a move to cash in on the country's demand for foreign cars.
"We are holding talks" over a possibility of a Suzuki plant in Russia, possibly in St. Petersburg," an official with Russia's economic development and trade ministry said today. The official said the ministry was in talks with Itochu Corp., which represents Suzuki in Russia, and the results of the talks may be known by the end of the month.
The company first got in touch with the ministry last year, said the official, who declined to be named.
"The company is approaching this very carefully," the official said.
St. Petersburg government officials showed the Japanese possible locations for the plant this week, said a representative of the city's investment and strategic projects committee. Vera Kheifets, a spokeswoman for the committee, confirmed that representatives of Suzuki, as well as Mitsubishi and Peugeot -- who are also considering building their own plants here -- have requested information about St. Petersburg, but provided no more details.
All officials declined to put a price tag on possible investments by the Japanese carmaker.
Suzuki would become the third Japanese carmaker to have production facilities in Russia. Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. are building their own plants in St. Petersburg.
Suzuki sold 16,118 cars in Russia last year, a 64 percent increase on 9,803 units sold in 2005, according to the Association of European Businesses in Russia.
In the first quarter of this year, Suzuki sold 5,626 units in Russia.
At 3,205 units, the Suzuki Grand Vitara SUV was Russia's 23rd best-selling foreign model in the first quarter, the Moscow-based group said.
Last year, foreign cars outsold domestic models for the first time in the country, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Russians bought 1 million new foreign cars and 800,000 domestic makes.
Interfax news agency, citing Dmitry Levchenkov, a senior Economic Development ministry official, said today that Peugeot was likely to sign an agreement with the ministry this summer for an assembly plant.
A representative for Itochu Europe today referred all calls to Itochu's Tokyo-based headquarters. Nobody at Itochu in Tokyo could be immediately reached for comment.
Suzuki has quietly become a major global player. It is expanding its Esztergom, Hungary, assembly plant to 340,000 units annual capacity from about 200,000 units now.
