Russia’s Economic Development Ministry and Japan’s Mazda auto maker have signed an agreement on car assembly in the Primorye Territory in the Russian Far East, a ministry official said on Thursday.
“We have signed an agreement with Mazda under the old industrial assembly regime. Production will be launched in the Primorye Territory in the Far East,” said Dmitry Levchenkov, head of the ministry’s special economic zone department.
The plant’s production capacity will amount to 25,000-50,000 vehicles per year. Investment in the project will reach $80 million.
The enterprise will make Mazda 6 and a new car model, which he declined to specify. Mazda has no plans to produce engines in Russia, while 30 percent of other parts must be produced in the country under the old industrial assembly regime, Levchenkov said.
Under the new regime introduced in Russia in spring, car producers setting up industrial assembly in Russia will have to build a minimum 300,000 vehicles a year for several years after starting up, while companies which already assemble vehicles at their plants in Russia will have to increase their output to 350,000 a year.
The new terms also include a requirement that semi knock-down car production should not exceed 5 percent of output.