Sollers to reopen Vladivostok auto plant with Chinese partners

VLADIVOSTOK. June 1 (Interfax) - Russian automotive group Sollers will resume vehicle assembly at its plant in Vladivostok in 2023 with Chinese partners, Primorye Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said in a report on the regional government's work in 2022 on Wednesday.

"Automobile production is being restored. There are plans to launch a new line at the Sollers plant this year with Chinese partners," the governor said.

Kozhemyako said in January that Sollers might resume production at its plant in Vladivostok, which was formerly a joint venture with Mazda, in August.

The Mazda Sollers plant halted production in May 2022. Mazda said that the agreement to transfer its stake in the joint venture to Sollers was signed on October 24, 2022. The stake was sold for a symbolic price of 1 euro, with an option to buy it back within three years, the company said. Mazda estimated its loss in connection with the deal at JPY12 billion, or a little over $82 million.

Sollers has announced plans to start using the plant to assemble automobiles from other brands in 2023.

The Mazda Sollers joint venture, which began assembling automobiles in 2012, produced about 29,000 vehicles in 2021.

PJSC Sollers includes the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (UAZ), which makes UAZ vehicles and is the group's key asset; the ZMZ plant in Nizhny Novgorod Region; a former joint venture with Ford in Yelabuga) that restarted LCV production at the end of November 2022; the plant in Vladivostok; and a former joint venture with Isuzu in Ulyanovsk Region that was liquidated in late February.