Belarus's Unison to start assembling Chinese vehicles with FAW this week

MINSK. Sept 19 (Interfax) - Belarusian automaker Unison will begin assembling Chinese automobiles under the Hongqi brand this week, First Deputy Industry Minister Alexander Ogorodnikov said at a press conference on Monday.

"On Thursday the Unison plant, which has not been in the news for a very long time, will, shall we say, relaunch the plant with our Chinese partners. We are resuming the production cycle. We will start production with a Chinese car company under the brand Hongqi," Ogorodnikov said.

"The first 36 kits are already at the plant. The target for this year is to near production of 1,000 units in the remaining months," he said, adding that if this goal is met next year will be "very, very promising."

Unison, located in the village of Obchak outside of Minsk, assembled Ford Transit and Escort automobiles in the late 1990s. the plant now assembles automobiles and specialized and commercial vehicles.

The Hongqi brand is controlled by Chinese automaker FAW. President Alexander Lukashenko met with FAW executives in March 2023 and proposed to set up production of the company's vehicles in Belarus.