Is the plant new?
In 2014, Motorinvest organized the assembly of Great Wall SUVs. Then the distributor of the brand in Russia was the company “Irito”, which built a full-cycle plant.
The project lasted a year – it did not survive the collapse of the ruble exchange rate. In 2016, the site was relaunched with the Changan brand. Three years of work – and another long downtime.
And here’s the third attempt with the Evolute brand.
Again the Chinese
Great Wall, Changan – Chinese brands. Evolute was invented especially for the Russian market, but in the original these are slightly twisted models of the Dongfeng concern.
The brand has been present on our market for a long time, but is in no rush to settle down. And she was not mentioned at the launch event. Apparently the partnership with Russia now tries not to advertise, including Asian companies.
However, history repeats itself: Chinese cars are again being assembled at Lipetsk.
The assembly is still SKD. Taillights and a bumper, a battery, an electric motor and a chassis are mounted on the body with the interior.
While on conservation
The plant in the Lipetsk region is fully equipped since the previous projects. Nothing has been disassembled, but qualitatively preserved. Unpack, reprogram – and you’re good to go. There are lines for welding, anti-corrosion treatment, painting. The operating time for all past years was about 20,000 vehicles, so the remaining resource is still large.
But for now, Evolute doesn’t need any of this. Machines are assembled according to the SKD method by only 150 people, for which one and a half dozen posts in the last workshop are enough.
Over time, the localization will grow. First, they will switch to the delivery of disassembled bodies from China, then they will master the stamping of household metal on site.
What are the plans?
When the company ramps up production, the two-shift operation will require 240 people and another 900-1,000 will be hired for assembly and welding. The last one at Motorinvest is manual, using manipulators. Automation is inevitable with many thousands of print runs, but until now it has made no sense to invest in expensive equipment.
Capacities are designed for 100-120 thousand cars per year. This is more than the Haval brand, which was placed in the first production phase at its Tula factory (80,000 vehicles). Considering that Evolute plans to release electric vehicles, such a scale seems fantastic.
This year, however, the company already wants to master three models: the i-Pro sedan, the i-Joy crossover and the i-Van minivan. Two more crossovers follow. The sedan is delivered in a taxi. And only in this direction, the demand of the capital region is estimated at tens of thousands of cars per year. Plus car sharing, business and private sales.
It remains only to convince the Russian buyer that the Chinese electric car is no worse than the Japanese or German with combustion engines. In some ways, though, it’s even better. So there are chances of success.
- “Behind the wheel” can also be read in Telegram.