Volkswagen to build production plant in Russian city of Kaluga

The new facility will have an annual production capacity of 115,000 vehicles. Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, said: “This decision is of major strategic significance for the Group. It ensures we will be able to substantially increase our share of the rapidly-growing Russian automotive market over the coming years.” It is planned to sign the contracts with the Russian government and the Kaluga Oblast in Moscow on May 29.


Pischetsrieder said that, taking everything into consideration, the Der Standort Kaluga habe in der Betrachtung aller Eigenschaften die besten Rahmenbedingungen für die Investition aufgewiesen, sagte Pischetsrieder. Insgesamt hatte Volkswagen rund 70 Standorte zwischen St. Petersburg, dem Ural und dem Schwarzen Meer für eine mögliche Ansiedlung untersucht.location offered the best framework for the investment. In total, Volkswagen had examined some 70 sites between St. Petersburg, the Urals and the Black Sea as potential locations for the new plant. The city of Kaluga is situated at the center of the European part of Russia some 160 kilometers to the south west of Moscow. The city has a population of approximately 330,000. Kaluga is well known for research and industry and is the seat of the regional administration.

In a first step, semi knocked-down Volkswagen and Skoda brand models will be assembled in Kaluga from the second half of 2007 (SKD assembly).von der zweiten Jahreshälfte 2007 an teilzerlegte Modelle der Marken Volkswagen und Skoda montiert werden (SKD-Fertigung). Pro Jahr werden so zunächst rund 20.000 Fahrzeuge gefertigt. Parallel dazu wird die Vollfertigung mit Karosseriebau, Lackiererei und Montage aufgebaut, die ihren Betrieb spätestens in der ersten Jahreshälfte 2009 aufnehmen wird. The Skoda Octavia will be the first model to leave the assembly line. Initially, some 20,000 units will thus be produced annually. At the same time, full production facilities comprising body shop, paint shop and assembly lines will be installed

Source: Volkswagen AG