Sollers to launch manufacturing pilot of Sollers-branded pickups in Vladivostok on July 17
MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - Russia's Sollers automotive group plans to launch Far Eastern Automotive Industrial Technologies LLC (AIT) in Vladivostok on July 17, the company's press service told Interfax.
The renamed auto plant of the former joint venture between Sollers and Japan's Mazda will resume operations with the production of pilot batches of a new line of pickups, which will be sold on the Russian market under the Sollers brand.
Sollers is already selling a line of LCV models, Atlant and Argo, under the same brand in Russia. Since the end of 2022, they have replaced the Ford Transit in the group's portfolio after the final withdrawal of American Ford from Russia.
"Serial production and the official presentation of new pickup models will take place in early September. Sollers also expects to expand the range of vehicles produced at the site in Vladivostok in the near future, and negotiations are actively underway with potential Chinese partners in this regard," the press service of the automaker said.
The joint venture between Sollers and Mazda has been producing cars since 2012. Until the spring of 2022, the Mazda CX-9 and Mazda CX-5 crossovers, and the Mazda 6 sedan were produced there. In 2021, the plant assembled about 29,000 cars, which, according to AEB data, were sold that same year on the Russian market. In 2022, Mazda sales in the Russian market fell to just over 9,000 units. In the first half of 2023, only about 600 Mazdas were sold in Russia.
Sollers consolidated 100% of the shares of the former parity joint venture with Mazda at the end of 2022. At the end of November, the company was renamed from Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus LLC to Automotive Industrial Technologies LLC.
Mazda reported that the deal was made for a symbolic cost of 1 euro with an option to buy out its share in the joint venture within three years. The Japanese concern estimated the loss in connection with the transaction at 12 billion yen, or just over $82 million at the exchange rate at the time of the transaction.
Sollers combines the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (produces UAZ vehicles, and is a key asset of the group), the ZMZ industrial site (Nizhny Novgorod Region), an LCV production plant in Yelabuga, restarted at the end of November (on the site of the former joint venture with Ford), the soon-to-restart car plant in the Far East (the former joint venture with Mazda), and the site of the joint venture liquidated at the end of February with Isuzu in the Ulyanovsk region.
The main shareholder of Sollers until last summer was businessman Vadim Shvetsov. In June 2022, he sold a controlling stake in the group (77.6%) to the Alter Invest company comprised of the group's top managers.