The purchase of local VW assets cost one of the companies belonging to the Avilon car dealer holding 125 million euros.
The German concern Volkswagen previously produced in the Russian Federation some cars of the brands included in its composition: the list of the most popular in the last pre-crisis years included Volkswagen Polo and Tiguan, as well as Skoda Rapid, Karoq and Kodiaq. Rumors that VW was going to get rid of the Russian business appeared last summer, the information was confirmed already in 2023.
The government commission for foreign investment control approved the deal in April. Official information about the sale appeared in May, Art-Finance LLC acted as the buyer of Russian assets of Volkswagen: this structure is part of the large car dealer holding Avilon. The amount of the deal was not disclosed at the time.
However, it has become known now: according to the report of the German concern on the performance of the first half of 2023, Volkswagen sold its Russian business for 125 million euros. Recall that following the transaction, Avilon became the owner of: a plant in Kaluga, Volkswagen Group Rus LLC, Volkswagen Components and Services LLC, as well as Scania Leasing LLC, Scania Finance LLC and Scania Insurance LLC. Last month, the former Russian subsidiary of VW spoke about the name change: now it is AGR Automotive Group.
recall that the SKD assembly of cars began at the Volkswagen plant in Kaluga, which is located on the territory of the Grabtsevo technopark, back in 2007. A couple of years later, this enterprise switched to a full cycle, including welding, painting and assembly. To date, the production capacity of this site is designed to produce 225 thousand vehicles per year.
It should be noted that the Volkswagen concern was preparing for the sale of Russian business against the backdrop of litigation. The fact is that for some time all local assets were under arrest at the suit of GAZ (initially, because of the loss of the Russian partner in the amount of 15.6 billion rubles). The German manufacturer managed to achieve the lifting of the arrest on the objects of real estate and movable property of Volkswagen Group Rus, but a week later the GAZ group filed a lawsuit again, and this time for 28.4 billion rubles. By the way, for the second time the court refused to take interim measures.
According to preliminary data, in the future, the Kaluga plant will restarted. As Kolesa.ru reported earlier, according to the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov, the partner of the new owner of this enterprise is likely to be “a company from Southeast Asia.” There is still no information about who acts as potential partners.
It was previously assumed that the Chinese company Chery might show interest in partnership: according to rumors, the manufacturer was in negotiations, and with several local companies. Around the same time, the president of Chery International, Jan Goubin, noted that the company wants “not only to sell cars in Russia”, but also to develop “their production in the Russian Federation, and in such a way that there is a high degree of localization.” However, no official more specific statements have yet been received in this regard.
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