Infiniti leaving Russia along with parent Nissan

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - Japanese automobile brand Infiniti, which is owned by Nissan, announced on Thursday that it is leaving the Russian market.

However, Infiniti will continue to provide service support to all owners of its vehicles under the warranty terms, the company said in a statement on Vkontakte.

Russia was the first European market for Infiniti, which has had a presence in the country since 2006. The company imported QX50, QX55 and QX80 SUVs into Russia until the beginning of this year. Shipments of Infiniti vehicles to Russia were suspended in early March after the start of the military operation in Ukraine.

The brand did not have local production in recent years. The Nissan plant in St. Petersburg did semi knocked down assembly of QX70 and QX80 crossovers and M sedans in 2012-2014.

Infiniti's sales in Russia plunged 46% to 819 vehicles in the first nine months of 2022 and the brand's market share shrank to 0.1% from 0.2%, the Association of European Businesses reported.

Nissan decided earlier to hand over its Russian plant, Nissan Manufacturing Rus LLC for a symbolic price to Russian state company NAMI with the option to buy it back within six years. The deal also included the company's research facilities in St. Petersburg and sales and marketing center in Moscow.

Nissan's plant in St. Petersburg opened in June 2009. The company invested $200 million in the first phase, and 167 million euros in expansion. The plant, which has capacity to produce 100,000 vehicles per year, assembled the X-Trail, Murano, Qashqai and Terrano models.