Renault and Nissan cars will soon feature the Lada Kalina wheelbase.
At a meeting with Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reported that the market value of Russia's largest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, had tripled in the past 12 months.
He also noted that the Lada Kalina wheelbase will now be used to assemble Renault and Nissan vehicles and praised the Western auto concern's expanding stake in AvtoVAZ statutory capital. "I'm happy to note that Renault-Nissan has already invested over $2 billion in the Russian automotive industry," Putin began. "The situation at AvtoVAZ also continues to improve steadily. The Russian government has invested an impressive 75 billion roubles in the company."
Putin also reminded those present that four billion roubles had been allocated to the carmaker's benefits programs and that AvtoVAZ was receiving substantial subsidies under a car-scrapping programme still underway in Russia.
"The company's revenues stood at $670 million in 2009, but reached $1.7 billion this year. Most importantly, the enterprise has made headway with your direct involvement in its expansion-and-restructuring programme," Putin stressed.
Ghosn then explained his company's production plans.
The Lada Kalina wheelbase will now be used to manufacture Renault and Nissan cars, and vice versa.
In late October, Ghosn said Renault-Nissan began negotiating the purchase of shares from Troika Dialog brokerage, which currently owns a 25% stake in AvtoVAZ.
Vladimir Putin said the government praised the possible expansion of the Renault-Nissan's stake in AvtoVAZ.
Ghosn chatted with journalists after face-to-face talks with the prime minister.
Ghosn said that Prime Minister Putin had agreed that the Renault-Nissan stake in AvtoVAZ could eventually reach 50%.
He declined to specify share-purchase deadlines and said that the issue had to be assessed with other AvtoVAZ stockholders. He told Putin during the meeting that, in his opinion, the Russian automotive industry had already coped with the crisis.
Ghosn said he had been told that demand for Lada Kalina cars had soared after Putin had gotten behind the wheel to much media fanfare in Russia's Far East and that people now had to wait for the vehicle to be in stock. He quoted AvtoVAZ CEO Igor Komarov, who said that he had trouble meeting demand for the Kalina.
* * *
Yesterday, Vladimir Putin also chaired a meeting on the work of inter-governmental commissions. The prime minister said that this was an important instrument for expanding relations with Russia's major foreign partners.
Putin noted that the current foreign-trade turnover totaled $400 billion, a 40% increase on the same period of 2009.
Valery Butayev