Downtime continues: the former Volkswagen plant in Kaluga has not yet been restarted

The new owner — AGR Automotive Group — said that it was decided to extend the downtime until March 31 of this year, but it will not affect everyone employees.

The German concern Volkswagen, along with many other foreign automakers, decided to sell its Russian business back in 2022 and then began looking for buyers. The process dragged on somewhat, so the deal was finally completed only in May last year: Art-Finance LLC became the new owner of the former assets of the VW concern in Russia.

Last summer it became known that the former Russian subsidiary of Volkswagen had changed its name to AGR Automotive Group. Back in August 2023, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov reported that car production at the plant in Kaluga could be launched before the end of the year; The governor of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, also stated this a little earlier. However, plans changed: at the end of autumn, an order was signed on downtime from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.

Now it has become known that the shutdown at the former Russian VW plant will be extended. As Interfax reports with reference to the primary trade union organization ASM LLC Volkswagen Group Rus, the plant in Kaluga will remain idle after February 29 (without specifying the end date). At the same time, the press service of AGR Automotive Group added that the downtime was extended until March 31.

The new owner also noted that the downtime regime at the Kaluga site had to be extended “for reasons beyond the control of the employer” and added that it applies only to that part of the employees who are not involved “in preparation for the launch of production, logistics work, training and work on maintaining the enterprise infrastructure.”

At the beginning of last month, the governor of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, announced that the enterprise in Kaluga would return to producing cars during the first half of 2024; there is no more precise date yet.

According to the report of the German concern, the amount of the sale transaction Russian assets amounted to 125 million euros. As a result, the AGR Automotive group became the owner of not only the production site in Kaluga, but also Volkswagen Group Rus LLC, Volkswagen Components and Services LLC, Scania Leasing LLC, Scania Finance LLC and Scania Insurance LLC.

The Kaluga enterprise has production capacities designed to produce up to 225 thousand cars per year. Previously, three models in demand on the Russian market rolled off this assembly line — the Volkswagen Tiguan crossover, as well as the Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Rapid liftbacks.

Volkswagen is now experiencing difficulties in the global market, which are partly caused by weak demand for electric cars. Let us remember that at the end of last fall it became known that VW admitted to being uncompetitive and talked about plans to reduce staff.