Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development, Kairbek Uskenbayev, said the republic’s automakers are considering opening a Toyota assembly plant. During a briefing with journalists, in response to a question about the possible transfer of the Russian Toyota plant to Kazakhstan, Uskenbaev confirmed that such negotiations are underway – at the “business-to-business” level.
According to the minister, government agencies are not touching the process because the questions are “purely technical” about the investment volume and the powers of each of the parties to a possible agreement.
“Toyota is one of the most popular brands in our country. (…) They are negotiating whether it will work or not – I don’t know. But when Toyota opens, I think it will be one of our country’s strongest successes,” Interfax is quoted as saying by Kairbek Uskenbaev.
The Toyota plant in Shushary (St. Petersburg) was put into operation in 2007 and produced the most popular models of the brand: Camry (photo) and RAV4. Production capacity – 100 thousand cars per year
Possible participants in the new joint production are not directly named, but among the candidates we can mention the company Saryarkaavtoprom, which produces Chevrolet, Kia and JAC models, as well as Astana Motors, a Hyundai manufacturer and distributor of Hyundai, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Subaru, Haval, Chery, Foton, Changan, Foton trucks and Golden Dragon buses.
Toyota’s Russian plant in Shushary was closed in March 2022 due to supply chain disruptions for key materials and components. In September, after a six-month outage and a failed search for new suppliers, the automaker’s Russian division announced a complete shutdown of production.
- Meanwhile, sales in the US Toyota passed the American concern General Motors.
- “Behind the Wheel” can be seen on RuTube.
Source: Z R
