A reception was given to Renault's Carlos Ghosn in Moscow.
The French company Renault is benefiting from its friendship with the Russian authorities. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov lavished compliments on the company yesterday during the launch of new manufacture at Avtoframos, and later Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, taking time off his schedule, told the head of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, about what had been done to rescue AvtoVAZ. He promised that Russia would sponsor Renault's team in Formula 1 and in return driver Vitaly Petrov's race car would carry the Lada logo.
A new production line of Renault Sandero cars was launched at the Avtoframos plant yesterday. Renault President Carlos Ghosn and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov attended the event. The Mayor was presented with a gift of a Renault Sandero, which he promised to give to a large family in Moscow. He added that the "lost Moskvich plant is getting a new lease of life." The plant currently produces 80,000 cars a year, but thanks to an additional cash injection of 150 million euros, its capacity will increase to 160,000 cars a year. In total, Renault invested 380 million euros into Avtoframos.
Local content of Logan and Sandero cars is currently 44%, but the company hopes to bring it to 75%. At present 180 parts for Renault are produced in Russia; this includes: the hood, the roof, windows, airbags, seats, etc.
After the event at Avtoframos, Carlos Ghosn had a meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss the state of affairs at AvtoVAZ (Renault owns a quarter of the plant). The prime minister confirmed his commitment to help the car plant, noting that 28 billion roubles has been deposited for the plant into the account of Rostekhnologii. "We have reserved a further 10 billion roubles. All of this is done with an eye to the project that we have coordinated," Vladimir Putin added, addressing the head of Renault.
AvtoVAZ President Igor Komarov said that on March 10, 2010 the plant's board of directors will discuss the business plan reaching until 2020. Under the business plan, the plant will produce about 1 million cars by 2020, 70% of these will bear the Lada brand.
The prime minister recalled another instance of Russian-French cooperation: the participation of the Russian Formula 1 driver, Vitaly Petrov, in Renault's team. Vladimir Putin said that Russia would financially assist Petrov."We will make the first step to sponsor this activity and I do not rule out raising our sponsorship of the project," Vladimir Putin said. The prime minister's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that the exact source of the money is still under discussion. "In return, the Lada logo will be featured on Vitaly Petrov's car and clothes," Dmitry Peskov added.
AvtoVAZ stresses that this is very important for the prestige of Russia as a whole. "Formula 1is a test range for new ideas in car-making, so the participation of our driver, Vitaly Petrov, in the race adds to Russia's prestige, promotes the Lada brand and gives us access to modern technologies possessed by the Renault-Nissan alliance which we can use in the production of Lada cars," AvtoVAZ foreign relations director, Igor Burenkov, noted.
The Lada logo will be featured on the car and clothes of Renault team driver, Vitaly Petrov.
Yevgeniya Sergiyenko