Toyota closes in Russia and is likely to sell its St. Petersburg factory, a 100,000-vehicle-a-year plant that hasn’t produced since March.
The exodus of multinational companies in Russia continues as a result of the invasion in Ukraine on February 24 and the war that has been waged since then. The latest company to announce it is closing in Russia is Toyota, which may also sell its St. Petersburg factory, a plant that has been idle since March despite having a capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year.
Due to shortages of key components and materials following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Toyota has decided to end its vehicle manufacturing activity in Russia. Production stopped in March, as did imports of its vehicles.
Toyota closes in Russia and may sell its St. Petersburg factory
The company has kept the factory ready to resume activity if circumstances allow, but sees no indication that that might happen in the future. In fact, other manufacturers such as Nissan and Volkswagen have already left the country, and Renault’s sale of AvtoVAZ to a scientific institute has resulted in Russia deciding to resurrect the Soviet brand Moskvitch.
This has led Toyota to make the decision to permanently cease activity at the St. Petersburg plant, a facility where the Toyota Camry and Toyota RAV4 were assembled for the Russian market, and to import to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia.
However, the company has reported that it will maintain a restructured organization in Russia to serve existing Toyota and Lexus customers. Employees will be offered reemployment, retraining and welfare assistance, as well as financial support above and beyond legal requirements, the manufacturer said.
Toyota currently employs 2,350 people in Russia. Around 1,900 work at the St. Petersburg plant and around 450 are employed in Moscow to oversee marketing, sales and finance operations.
Toyota sold just 221 vehicles in Russia in August, down 97% from the same month last year. In total, the Russian market fell 62% to 41,698 units.
As for the St. Petersburg factory, it began operating in 2007 after an investment of 680 million euros. Last year alone, 42,235 Toyota RAV4s and 38,547 Camrys were assembled at this plant, according to Toyota.
In fact, the RAV4 was the 11th best-selling car in Russia last year with 38,441 registered units, putting it ahead of the Camry with 31,983 units. Here I leave you the 5 best Russian cars in history, so you can learn a little more about this particular market.
Source: Automotive News Europe
