Aurus intends to produce business-class cars at the former Toyota plant in the Russian Federation

According to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, at least four models will roll off the production line of the enterprise. The partner of the Russian company in this project has not yet been named.

The Russian brand Aurus was introduced in 2018, the current model range of this brand includes the Senat sedan, its extended version Senat Long, the Senat Limousine version, as well as a crossover Komendant. As Kolesa.ru reported earlier, the luxury SUV was presented at the end of September 2022, and its production at the plant in Elabuga started at the end of November of the same year.

In the photo: Aurus Senat S600

Interfax reports on the automaker’s future plans with reference to the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov. According to him, the company is going to set up the assembly of a line of business class cars at the facilities of the former Toyota plant located in St. Petersburg. It is expected that it will consist of at least four models.

According to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Aurus is going to organize the production of business-class cars at a site in the Northern capital “together with industrial foreign partners.” True, Denis Manturov has not yet disclosed details about who intends to act as these partners.

Photo from Aurus Komendant production

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that towards the end of this year the first copies of industrial assembly will appear. There is also no information yet about which business class models (at least in which segments) will be produced at the former Russian Toyota plant.

Kommersant reported last month that the Aurus brand is considering the former Toyota plant in St. Petersburg to organize car assembly. Then the publication noted that Gazprom was interested in the project, wanting to enter the capital of Aurus. The automobile plant in Shushary, through Shushary-Avto LLC, belongs to FSUE NAMI (a structure subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Trade). By the way, she is also the main owner of Aurus (share — 63.5%), another 36% is owned by the Arab fund Tawazun, and the remaining 0.5% is owned by the Sollers group.

In the photo: the former Toyota plant (from the archive)

Recall that the Toyota plant in St. Petersburg previously launched the production of local bestsellers of the Japanese brand — the Camry business sedan and the RAV4 crossover. The management placed the enterprise on idle time in the spring of 2022, and in the fall of the same year it became known about its closure; the site was later mothballed. Then it became known that Toyota had decided to sell the Russian plant.

The deal between Toyota and FSUE NAMI was concluded last spring. At the same time, the Japanese sold their production site without a buyback option. As Kolesa.ru reported earlier, some foreign manufacturers agreed to the option of selling local assets for a nominal fee, but with the possibility of buyback over the next few years, including Renault, Nissan and Mazda.