Russian Kaiyi distributor now headed by former Isuzu senior manager

MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) - Mikhail Stepanov has been appointed General Director of Kaiyi Rus LLC, the Russian distributor of the Kaiyi car brand, the company's press service said.

"Mikhail graduated from the Moscow Auto Mechanical Institute with a degree in engineering and worked his way up from a logistics specialist to a member of the executive committee of Isuzu Rus. For the last 12 years, he has led after-sales service departments in such major automobile companies as Scania, Mercedes Benz Trucks Russia, and Isuzu," the press release says.

Before Stepanov, the company was headed by Kirill Kirillov.

Kaiyi is a sub-brand of Chinese automobile brand Chery, which entered the Russian market in 2023. The brand's model range in Russia is represented by the Kaiyi E5 sedan, and the Kaiyi X3 and X3 Pro urban crossovers. In January last year, Kaliningrad Avtotor, which previously produced BMW, Kia and Hyundai models, starting assembling these cars.