Former advisor to Avtovaz president will head ex-Nissan plant in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG. March 23 (Interfax) - Ivan Mironov has been appointed general director of the former Nissan plant in St. Petersburg, Nissan Manufacturing Rus LLC, the press service of the plant's new owner Avtovaz said.

Mironov worked in the Russian Transport Ministry in various positions from 2011 to 2018, rising from senior specialist to assistant minister and deputy director of the administrative department. In 2018-2019, he was advisor to the general director of the developer LSR Group .

While working in the government of St. Petersburg from 2019-2022, he headed the office of one of the vice-governors of the city (at the time, Maxim Sokolov was the vice-governor for transport infrastructure, investment policy and tourism - IF). From June 2022 to the present, Mironov has served as senior adviser to Maxim Sokolov, now president of Avtovaz. Specifically, he has been responsible for the integration of the St. Petersburg automobile plant into the company's perimeter.

The process of re-issuing documents and obtaining the necessary approvals for changing the name of the plant to Lada - St. Petersburg is currently underway, the report says.

According to open sources, since March 2021, Evgeny Shevelev had been CEO of Nissan Manufacturing Rus, and since January 25, 2023 Sergei Zakharchenko was in charge of the company.

In early February, Avtovaz closed a deal to acquire a 99% stake in the former Nissan Manufacturing Rus plant from the NAMI State unitary enterprise, under the Industry and Trade Ministry, to which the Japanese company had transferred its assets upon leaving Russia.

According to the agreements, Avtovaz acquired a 99% stake in the charter capital of Nissan Manufacturing Rus LLC for 1 euro. The remaining 1% will be retained by NAMI. The completed deal maintains a call option for Nissan to repurchase its former assets in Russia over a six-year period. In the second half of this year, Avtovaz plans to start production of Lada-branded C and D segment cars at the St. Petersburg site. The production volume this year may reach 10 thousand units.

The Nissan plant in St. Petersburg opened in 2009. The first investment in the plant totaled $200 million, and the expansion cost an additional 167 million euros. The company produced X-Trail, Murano, Qashqai and Terrano models. Its capacity was 100,000 cars per year.