Daimler to Decide on Russian Car Assembly by Fall

VIENNA – Daimler plans to decide whether to assemble Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in Russia by September, says Jan Madeja, general director of the auto maker’s Mercedes-Benz Rus distribution subsidiary.

“We have a project for the assembly of passenger cars,” Madeja is quoted by Auto-Dealer.ru. as saying. “Currently, we are carefully studying the situation and we plan to make a decision regarding production in Russia in September at the latest.”

Mercedes is the only one of the three main German premium brands not assembled in Russia.

BMW cars are built by contract assembler Avtovor in Kaliningrad from semi-knocked-down kits. Volkswagen Group built Audi cars from SKD kits in 2009 and 2010 at its plant in Kaluga and resumed Audi assembly this spring.

Mercedes sold 15,870 cars in Russia this year through May, up 18.5 % from like-2012, making it the country’s leading premium brand. But BMW with 15,703 deliveries and Audi with 15,080 are close behind.

Last year, 37,436 Mercedes cars were sold in Russia. Madeja expects to sell about 40,000 cars in the country this year and hopes to reach 60,000 to 70,000 units “in the upcoming three to four years,” he is quoted as saying.

Currently, there are two significant production operations involving Mercedes vehicles in Russia.

GAZ Group is finishing preparations for volume assembly of the previous-generation Mercedes Sprinter commercial van at its plant in Nizhny Novgorod. GAZ, acting as contract manufacturer for Daimler, launches serial output later this year.

In addition, Daimler owns 11 % of Russia’s heavy-truck maker Kamaz. Daimler and Kamaz operate two joint ventures for production of Mercedes-Benz and Fuso trucks in Naberezhnye Chelny.