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TOGLIATTI AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE PROJECT ESTIMATED AT $60 MLN-$80 MLN
October 23, 2003
Source: BISNIS--Automotive Sector News

The total cost of a project to set up an automobile industrial park in Togliatti is estimated at $60 million - $80 million, Avtovaz Chairman of the Board Vladimir Kadannikov said at a conference in Togliatti.

It is planned that this work will be carried out by ZAO Automobile Industrial Park. Avtovaz’s partners in the project include Germany’s Ferrostaal and the largest Avtovaz shareholder All-Russian Automobile Alliance. David Herman, former General Motors vice president, was elected as the company’s CEO.

Kadannikov said that the industrial park would be rented out under long-term contracts with foreign and Russian automobile component producers. It is planned that foreign companies will open up joint ventures, subsidiaries or branches in the park. The first contracts will be signed in November 2003, Kadannikov said.

He said that the company would be developed in three stages. At the first stage 10,000 square meters of production space on Avtovaz territory will be marked out and later the park will be expanded: the second stage will involve an expansion to 33,000 square meters and the third stage – to 87,000 square meters.

Kadannikov said that initially the park will not only be used to produce automobile components, but also to increase the effectiveness of Avtovaz production by moving certain areas of assembly and component production away from the main production line.

The general director also noted that a list of priority projects is being drawn up for implementation in the industrial park-–such as production of improved components for the existing Avtovaz range and also for the assembly of future models using new technology