The Avtodom auto holding intends to bring up to eight models to the market in the future. The partners of the Russian company are still not named.
The German company stopped importing cars into the Russian Federation, as well as production of cars at a plant in the Moscow region in March 2022 (E-Class, GLC, GLE and GLS rolled off the production line ). The Avtodom group of companies bought the Russian assets of Mercedes-Benz in April last year. According to the deal, the car dealer became the owner of not only the Yesipovo plant, but also the official Russian distributor, a corporate bank and a local leasing subsidiary. Let us remind you that Mercedes has the right to buy back Russian businesses at market prices over the next few years.
At the beginning of this year it became known that the new owner of the plant in the Moscow region intends to assemble 30 thousand cars this year. Then Avtodom General Director Andrei Olkhovsky said that the first batch of vehicle kits arrived at the production site at the end of 2023, which was assembled in test mode to check the operation of the systems.
Now RBC has spoken about the plans of the Russian holding: as it turns out, Avtodom is going to produce cars under its own brand at the former Mercedes-Benz plant. Its name has not yet been revealed. “Today we are definitely planning to launch one brand, and further actions will depend on sales, and on the utilization of the enterprise’s capacity, and on the partners that we will continue to attract to the development of our project,” Andrei Olkhovsky told the publication.
According to unconfirmed reports, the Chinese multi-brand manufacturer Chery may become a partner of the Russian company. It was previously reported that the company intends to remain in the premium segment, since only in this case the plant will be profitable. Let us remind you that now Chery does not officially produce its cars at factories in the Russian Federation, although the Xcite X-Cross 7 that went on sale today, coming off the assembly line of the former Nissan plant in St. Petersburg, is a slightly redesigned Chery Tiggo 7 Pro.
According to the general director and co-owner of Avtodom, in the future the manufacturer plans to bring up to eight models to the market (it is not yet entirely clear whether they will be sold under one new brand or under several). He noted that test assembly of cars is currently ongoing at the plant in Esipovo.
Andrey Olkhovsky explained that eight models will be included in the technological chain gradually. The company intends to expand production volumes and build “new assembly spaces, new painting lines.” He explained that this will be achieved towards the end of next year. Then, according to the plan, production capacity will be tripled.
The list of current tasks of the company includes technical examination of products, obtaining certification and other necessary documents. Andrey Olkhovsky added that in the near future the company needs to identify a pool of future dealers, conclude contracts, and also bring sales centers to new standards. According to Avtodom's plans, all this will be done before the end of this year.
It is reported that Avtodom is going to undertake obligations to localize some of the components of its future cars (as part of a special investment contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation). The manufacturer intends to focus on electronic components, as well as components for control systems. The list includes suspension parts, passive safety systems and more. “As part of separate processes, we are even developing our own line of automotive parts,” added the head of Avtodom.