In 2023, Avtotor Kaliningrad plant plans to produce at least 50,000 cars of new brands, and according to the optimistic scenario, 70,000 or more. This was announced by the head of the board of directors of the holding Valery Gorbunov. According to him, Avtotor has already found new assembly partners, so far we are talking about three new brands, but in the future their number may be increased.
Valery Gorbunov did not say what kind of partners he was talking about, but he confirmed that cooperation would be also with Asian companies. The launch of production is scheduled for the end of 2022, but the top manager also did not specify which models. As Vedomosti newspaper wrote earlier, citing its sources, the Chinese state-owned automaker BAIC and the Kaliningrad-based Avtotor are negotiating the assembly of cars and may soon sign a cooperation agreement. The most likely model for localization in Russia is the BAIC D50 / U5 mid-size sedan, equipped with a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with a capacity of 150 hp, or an electric engine. However, BAIC is not the only automaker from China with which Avtotor is negotiating - Chery divisions are also named among the potential partners of the enterprise.
As previously reported by "AUTOSTAT", in early October, the Kaliningrad plant "Avtotor" began the work on reconfiguring the conveyor and preparing for the launch of production of new brands of cars. The company plans to launch the production of several such models by the end of 2022. Next year, Avtotor also plans to start the production of electric vehicles and engines for them. At the new production site, the construction of 8 plants is being completed, investments in which will be more than 5.7 billion rubles (100 million Euros).
