Since July 22, the leadership of Volkswagen Group Rus has seen a change at the top. Gerrit Spengler has taken over as general director, succeeding Jan Witte, who had been in the role only a month and previously served as HR Director for Volkswagen’s Russian subsidiary.
Two independent sources familiar with Volkswagen Group Rus and the broader automotive sector say the plant is being prepared for sale. They report that delegations from buyers in Kazakhstan and Austria have already visited the facility, while officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade have also been involved in discussions.
Requests to comment on a potential sale of the Russian plant and the status of state subsidies tied to a private investment contract (SPIC) were made to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but no reply was received at the time of publication. Volkswagen’s official representative in Russia did not respond to inquiries either.
Analyst Sergey Burgazliev, an independent automotive consultant, notes that the appointment of a top executive in Moscow, while high-ranking, signals the direction of the company’s strategy rather than a mere administrative shift. He suggests that selecting a marketer or a strategist would indicate a growth trajectory, whereas naming an HR director could imply cost reductions or restructuring.
Burgazliev points to scenarios in which Volkswagen seeks to preserve the asset by negotiating with regional car manufacturers to continue operations and even production in Russia under ongoing Western sanctions. He mentions the possibility of creating a Russian umbrella brand similar to Ravon, which operated in Russia from 2015 to 2019 and previously sold GM models that were pulled from the market.
“Preserving the asset seems to be a priority for Volkswagen,” Burgazliev remarks. “Even if a loan is involved, there could be a plan to transfer ownership to another party in the future.”
One potential development discussed by a contact is a potential agreement with the Kazakh government to revive the bankrupt Asia-Avto entity, which would then gain control of the Kaluga plant with the Kazakh government acting as a guarantor for repayments.
Earlier reports indicated that Volkswagen had shuttered the Nizhny Novgorod site at the GAZ Group premises. The company’s Russian office confirmed the closure amid uncertainty about resuming production in Nizhny Novgorod.
Volkswagen Group Rus indicated at the time that the decision to close the Nizhny Novgorod office was part of managing the broader strategic situation, including uncertainty about resuming operations. The Skoda Kodiaq, Karoq, Octavia and Volkswagen Taos were among the models produced at the Nizhny Novgorod plant, which had a design capacity of about 132,000 vehicles annually.
Depending on tenure, factory staff faced a range of options, including departure packages. The GAZ Group stated it did not plan to dismantle the assembly site pending a potential new investor. Earlier, Volkswagen froze automobile production in Kaluga and halted contract assembly in Nizhny Novgorod due to supply chain disruptions linked to sanctions and the Ukraine conflict, while exports of cars and spare parts to Russia were suspended.
By late May, Volkswagen indicated it did not anticipate resuming car production in Russia in the near term. In 2021, the Kaluga plant produced 118,000 vehicles, with the Nizhny Novgorod site contributing 52,300 units. Engine production reached 96,100 units in Russia that year.