Former Toyota plant in Russia to build Putin’s limousine
Production at the St Petersburg plant, handed over to carmaker Aurus long ago, should start by end-2024
07 May 2024 - 19:08
byGleb Stolyarov
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The Aurus Senat limousine carrying Russian President Vladimir Putin at his inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7 2024. Picture: REUTERS
Russia will start making Aurus luxury cars, which are used by President Vladimir Putin, at a former Toyota factory in St Petersburg this year, Denis Manturov, the acting deputy prime minister, was cited as saying on Tuesday.
The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after a Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car, and Putin arrived at his Kremlin inauguration ceremony in an Aurus limousine on Tuesday. Putin also presentedone of the vehicles to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February.
Manturov was cited by Russia’s state Tass news agency as saying that production at the St Petersburg plant should start by end-2024 and that the former Toyota factory had been handed over to Aurus a long time ago.
Toyota transferredthe factory to state company Nami, which has a majority stake in the Aurus brand, in March 2023.
Aurus Motors began making its cars in Russia’s Tatarstan region, about 1,000km from Moscow, in 2021.
Russia is looking for ways to use car factories left idle after some global carmakers withdrew from the Russian market after Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Russian analytical agency Autostat, 40 Aurus-branded cars have been sold in Russia this year.
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NEWS
Former Toyota plant in Russia to build Putin’s limousine
Production at the St Petersburg plant, handed over to carmaker Aurus long ago, should start by end-2024
Russia will start making Aurus luxury cars, which are used by President Vladimir Putin, at a former Toyota factory in St Petersburg this year, Denis Manturov, the acting deputy prime minister, was cited as saying on Tuesday.
The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after a Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car, and Putin arrived at his Kremlin inauguration ceremony in an Aurus limousine on Tuesday. Putin also presented one of the vehicles to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February.
Manturov was cited by Russia’s state Tass news agency as saying that production at the St Petersburg plant should start by end-2024 and that the former Toyota factory had been handed over to Aurus a long time ago.
Toyota transferred the factory to state company Nami, which has a majority stake in the Aurus brand, in March 2023.
Aurus Motors began making its cars in Russia’s Tatarstan region, about 1,000km from Moscow, in 2021.
Russia is looking for ways to use car factories left idle after some global carmakers withdrew from the Russian market after Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Russian analytical agency Autostat, 40 Aurus-branded cars have been sold in Russia this year.
Reuters
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