Citroën Models Still Rolling Off Russian Assembly Lines

Russia is assembling Citroën-branded vehicles with China’s help despite its owner, Stellantis, withdrawing two years ago from the market following the invasion of Ukraine.

That’s the finding of an investigation by the Reuters news agency whose sources and customs data suggests new versions of the Citroën C5 Aircross are rolling out of the Kaluga factory that is still majority-owned by Stellantis.

Custom records reveal that at least 42 car kits, produced by China's Dongfeng Motor Group, were imported in December for assembly at the plant and confirmed by two employees at different Russian car dealerships.

Reuters says it is not clear if the kits from China contained parts that fall under the scope of anti-Russian sanctions to which Beijing is not a party. There is also no suggestion from customs data or sources that Stellantis knew about the imports.

In response, Stellantis tells Reuters it has “lost control of its entities in Russia.” It also says it suffered a loss of $154.5 million as a result.

Automotive Technologies, a company registered in Moscow in March 2023 and 100% owned by Galina Dolgolenko, said in December it was assembling a pilot batch of 48 imported cars ahead of mass production beginning in 2024. It did not name the supplier or model of car.

Pavel Bezruchenko, its strategic development director, was quoted in the Russian newspaper Vedomosti the same month as saying the company brings in cars from China using parallel imports.

The Chinese state-owned Dongfeng, Russia's industry and trade ministry and plant operator Automotive Technologies did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the factory produced Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and Mitsubishi vehicles with an annual capacity of 125,000 vehicles.