Isuzu might halt production in Russia like Toyota, Mazda - paper

MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax) - Isuzu, which has production facilities in Ulyanovsk, is considering ending automobile production in Russia like fellow Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri reported.

The company might make this decision due to the inability to supply components to its Ulyanovsk plant, JSC Isuzu Rus, the paper said. The plant suspended automobile production in the spring after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

The Isuzu brand has had an official presence in Russia since 2006. Isuzu's line of commercial vehicles included chassis with gross weight of 3.5 to 33 tonnes, as well as D-Max pickups. The brand's dealer network included about 100 dealerships in Russia, as well as Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan.

The CEO of Isuzu Rus, Fabrice Gorlier said the plant produced 3,700 vehicles in 2021, Kommersant reported. It planned to increase production by 50% in 2022.

Isuzu Motors also has a joint venture in Russia with Sollers Auto, Isuzu Sollers LLC. In 2018, the companies signed a special investment contract (SPIC) with Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry and Ulyanovsk Region under which the automakers have equal ownership of the joint venture. Overall investment in the project was estimated at more than 6 billion rubles.

The venture specializes in producing medium-duty trucks with a high degree of localization. Gorlier said in an interview with Kommersant at the end of 2021 that the SPIC essentially did not give Isuzu any preferences, so questions had arisen about the prospects for the automaker's cooperation with the Russian company in the joint venture.

Isuzu Rus closed 2021 with a net profit of 984 million rubles to Russian Accounting Standards compared to a loss in the previous year, as revenue jumped 63% to 15.7 billion rubles, the SPARK-Interfax system showed.

At the beginning of the week, Toyota, which has a plant in St. Petersburg, officially announced the end of automobile production in Russia. After this Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported that Mazda was also considering halting production in Russia. This was confirmed by Sollers Auto, which also has a joint venture with Mazda in Russia's Far East.