Vladimir Putin launches new small car production enterprise.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Sollers plant in Naberezhnye Chelny yesterday and watched the signing of an agreement to build a major joint enterprise with Italy's Fiat. He also dropped by at the KamAZ plant. In both places he promised loads of money.
Sollers and Fiat have been cooperating for five years and are currently producing the Albea car and the Doblo commercial vehicle in Naberezhnye Chelny. True, what with the crisis, it is not operating at its full capacity (75,000 vehicles a year). The plans for the JV in which the parties have equal shares are much more ambitious: to invest up to 2.4 billion euros, create a line of nine models, achieve 50% of local content and eventually produce 500,000 cars a year. That will bring to the Russian market the second biggest car maker after AvtoVAZ, which was also founded in its time with Fiat's cooperation. Shutting down VAZ in its present shape is already considered to be an option, Izvestia has found out from a government source, and it may happen "after a while."
The first new model to roll off the new JV's conveyor will be the Fiat Linea. It is a no-frills sedan whose design still shows its Italian pedigree. For starters it will have a turbo 1.4, 120 hp engine.
"We have already ordered a lot of body parts because we are sure that with such a powerful engine there will be a lot of accidents," Sergey Ilyinsky, PR manager of Fiat's Russian office, joked to Izvestia's correspondent.
The biggest selling point of the new model will probably be its price: Ilyinsky promised that Linea will be in the same price niche as Chevrolet Lacetti and Ford Focus and will thus qualify for the government's car purchase crediting programme.
The Prime Minister, praising Sollers for its contribution to the development of the domestic car industry and recalling that he had personally discussed cooperation in the industry with Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, saved the most important information until after the Director General of Sollers, Vadim Shvetsov, and his Fiat counterpart Sergio Marchionne had signed an agreement on the creation of the JV.
"The Russian government will consider granting a 2.1 billion euro loan to the enterprise," Putin said. "The issue needs further study. We assume that other regions with a well-trained workforce, for example, Togliatti, will be involved in this project."
From the Sollers plant, Putin moved to the KamAZ plant nearby. He looked on as five agreements were signed for the purchase of a large number of trucks, to the tune of 10 billion roubles, by several government agencies. These include the Russian Interior Ministry and the Federal Penitentiary Service.
The racing drivers of the KamAZ-Master team were awaiting Putin in front of the race trucks intended for Dakar-type rallies. It happened to be the birthday of one of the drivers, Nail Bagavetdinov, and Putin, as has become his habit, gave him a gold watch. Bagavetdinov later said that this was the second watch he got from Putin: Putin presented him with the first watch when he was the Russian president.
The racing drivers surrounded the Prime Minister and asked him for money for the Silk Way Rally.
"How much?" the Prime Minister asked.
"15 million euros," the drivers replied. "You'll get it," Putin smiled as he left the hangar. "Yes, yes, yes," the drivers embraced each other.
From Naberezhnye Chelny, Putin flew to Sochi to take part in a video link with Vancouver in the evening. The Prime Minister talked with the Russian athletes at the Vancouver Olympics and wished them success. Nobody doubts that four years from now Putin will do the same "live" in Sochi. The question is, in what capacity he will do it.