Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday will oversee the signing of a 2.4 billion euro ($3.3 billion) joint venture between automakers Sollers and Fiat Group that will produce as many as 500,000 cars per year.
The Naberezhnye Chelny-based joint venture will make nine different models, with at least 50 percent of the parts, including engines and transmission, being produced domestically, the government said in a statement. The two companies will invest 2.4 billion euros in the enterprise, which plans to export 10 percent of its output.
Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko said in January that the government was going to rely on global alliances in its strategy for the auto industry, which will be presented at the end of the month. He said at the time that while one alliance has already been forged, meaning Renault and AvtoVAZ, another such alliance would be started in February.
Fiat and Sollers, whose representatives declined comment on Wednesday, have long been partners in Russia and signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008 to open a 50-50 joint venture in Tatarstan, which will start producing the Fiat Linea sedan sometime this year. Sollers already makes Fiat Albea and Fiat Doblo Panorama at its plant in Naberezhnye Chelny, which has a capacity of 75,000 cars a year.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne met with Putin in October and said he wanted to make jeeps in Russia. But neither the government nor the carmakers said which models would be produced at the new plant. Putin will also visit the KamAZ plant, in Naberezhnye Chelny, on Wednesday's visit.
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