The Kaluga region’s former Volkswagen automobile plant is set to stay idle beyond February 29, according to reports cited by interfax.ru, referencing the main trade union body ASM Volkswagen Group Rus LLC.
According to the union, all employees are expected to report to the facility on March 1, 2024 to receive information about the upcoming outage period and how it will be organized.
Volkswagen Group initially announced a halt to automobile production in Kaluga and to contract assembly in Nizhny Novgorod on March 3, 2022. The company pointed to disrupted supply chains caused by Western sanctions related to the situation in Ukraine. At the Nizhny Novgorod site, the GAZ plant produced models such as the Volkswagen Taos, Skoda Kodiaq, Skoda Karoq, and Skoda Octavia, while Kaluga hosted production of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Volkswagen Polo, and Skoda Rapid at the German group’s own facility.
Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of Kaluga Region, noted that the Volkswagen plant in Kaluga was expected to resume operations in the first half of 2024, signaling a cautious optimism about the facility’s future activity after the extended pause.
In related news, reports indicate that a seven-seat Dongfeng crossover has been marketed in Russia at around 4 million rubles, highlighting ongoing dynamics in the national auto sector amid shifts in demand and production plans.