Avtotor plans to produce up to 100 thousand cars of Chinese brands in 2023

Kaliningrad Avtotor plant is going to produce from 70,000 to 100,000 vehicles in 2023. Valery Gorbunov, chairman of the board of directors of Avtotor Holding, announced it, by noting that 30,000 of this amount will be for Kaiyi cars, the assembly of which started at the enterprise at the end of January. In addition, Avtotor is currently actively negotiating cooperation with at least two other automakers from China, the Finmarket agency writes.

According to unofficial data, we are talking about BAIC and Dongfeng. Recall that the first Kaliningrad-made Kaiyi model was a C-class sedan called the E5, which will go on sale in the first quarter of 2023. Then Kaiyi lineup in Russia will be replenished with the compact crossovers Kaiyi X3 and X3 Pro, and in the middle of the year - the flagship X7 Kunlun.

As Alexander Kornev, head of the department for work with importers at Gazprombank Autoleasing, notes, Kaiyi E5 will occupy a vacated niche that was occupied in past years by popular sedans in Russia - Kia Cerato, Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla, Skoda Octavia and others. As for the sales potential of Kaiyi crossovers, which are similar in technical characteristics to Chinese brands, their popularity will largely depend on the manufacturer's pricing strategy.