This is what Vladimir Putin saw at Volkswagen factory in Kaluga.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Volkswagen automobile plant in Kaluga yesterday, where he told our special correspondent, Andrei Kolesnikov, that he was pleased with the products of this thriving auto giant in Russia-at least more pleased than with the products of AvtoVAZ, which has become a black hole for billions from the Russian budget. Indeed, as if to challenge the ambitions AvtoVAZ still seems to entertain, the plant's top managers in Kaluga were pointedly hinting that they would soon be assembling Audis, too.
The Volkswagen plant in Kaluga has been in operation for almost a year. Initially the Germans assembled the cars in Germany from parts supplied by its numerous factories, tested them for quality, broke the cars down into parts and sent them to Kaluga where they were reassembled and retested. This was heralded as Kaluga Volkswagen reaching design capacity.
The owners of those cars were actually lucky to have cars that were quality-tested twice.
During my visit to the plant yesterday I did not try to find out why new cars had to be taken apart. The reason was clear to me: to avoid taxes on finished cars and as a means of training local personnel. But I did try to find out why the Germans had to assemble these cars at their own plant first.
The answers were hardly convincing ("to be sure that all the parts are there" was one reply). But one Russian top manager at the Kaluga plant finally let me in on the secret.
"They don't know how to do it any other way," he said somewhat wistfully. "It was a mystery for us too. We wondered ourselves at first. But then we realized that Germans are Germans."
Some things have changed at the factory over the past eight months. It is now ready for full cycle assembly, and in fact they are already assembling the Volkswagen Tiguan and Skoda Octavia.
Vladimir Shultz, the long-term planning and localisation department head, told us that one line could assemble five new models, making it the only such assembly line in the world.
A few minutes later I overheard him telling someone, "Six, we can assemble six models on a single line, which is unique."
I knew then that if the guided tour of the plant didn't end soon, in fifteen minutes we'd be hearing about how one line could assemble all 18 Volkswagen models, putting Mr Shultz, who is in charge of increasing local content, out of job.
The plant is already robotized to an indecent degree. One wonders what the thousand workers the plant intends to hire are going to do when it hits full capacity. That being said, the lifelike robots that were much touted by ru.net in anticipation of Mr Putin's Internet conference when he was still President are truly impressive.
"A robot is a robot even in Africa," a German head of a production unit said, with Mr Shultz, a Russian speaker, diligently interpreting by his side. "The important thing is that it ensures that all parameters are constant..."
Mr Shultz confirmed that the plant is already assembling the Volkswagen Touareg. In addition, several of the plant's executives told journalists that they would soon start assembling Audi cars. For now everything is set for the launch of a new Volkswagen model designed specially for Russia on the basis of the Polo.
"That is large-unit assembly," Vladimir Shultz noted. "It's at another production site, so unfortunately you won't be able to see it today."
Apparently Touareg is still passing through the same two stages of assembly and control that the Tiguan and Octavia have already gone through.
At the entrance to the plant road tests of Touareg cross-country vehicles were getting underway. I could tell that they test drive cars there because of the ruts in the mud that surrounds the Volkswagen plant on all sides (sometimes making inroads to the plant). The mud is the only element the Germans cannot get the better of (even the French in 1812, for all their ambitions, were overwhelmed by the mud here).
The local press in Kaluga is reporting that hunting season has been suspended in the marshes and forests here for an unknown reason. It may have had something to do with the expected arrival of a very large bird-the helicopter carrying Mr Putin.
Vladimir Putin toured the new plant, took a ride in a Tiguan and then talked with workers who sat in robotic chairs that shoved them into car cabins, where they were given several seconds to put some parts in their proper places before being pulled out. (It seemed like employing humans at the plant was part of some charitable social programme).
Mr Putin told workers that he thought the Tiguan was a very good car.
"Very good," he repeated as he headed for the electric cart that he toured the plant in.
"Even better than the Niva?" I couldn't help teasing him. I was sure that there was no satisfactory answer to that question.
Mr Putin paused. Then he said, "The Niva, I own a Niva. I can't help being fond of them."
He was already sitting in the cart when he remembered something and called me over to him. "Do you know what they used to say about the Trabant in Germany?"
Of course I knew about the Trabant. Former citizens of the GDR still remember that tiny car fondly.
"They said ‘Klein, aber mein!'" ("It is small but it is mine") "It's the same with the Niva."
Still, the Niva should hardly boast about having outlived the Trabant for so long.
Andrei Kolesnikov
