Toyota Adds Stamping, Resin-Molding at Russia Plant

VIENNA – Toyota will add stamping and resin-molding processes as part of the expansion of its Toyota Motor Manufacturing Russia plant in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The facility assembles the Toyota Camry from complete-knocked-down kits sourced from Japan.

“This decision is the result of high consumer evaluations of TMMR-produced Camry vehicles,” TMMR President Yoshinori Matsunaga says in a prepared statement.

The auto maker plans to invest a total of RR2.7 million ($91 million) in the new stamping and resin-molding processes scheduled to go into operation in 2014.

TMMR manufactured 14,131 Camrys last year, down 11.1% from 2010. It attributes last year’s decrease to the switch to the new-generation Camry.

Toyota sold 119,505 vehicles in Russia last year, up 50.7% from 2010, and achieved 4.5% market share. The auto maker ranks eighth in sales in Russia, behind Lada, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Renault, Kia, Nissan and Volkswagen.

Toyota’s best-selling model in Russia last year was the RAV4 cross/utility vehicle with 27,206 units, followed by the Corolla with 27,007 and Camry with 21,443.

Despite the local assembly, Toyota still imports some Camrys from Japan and plans to add a second shift this summer to stop sourcing the cars from Japan.

Toyota also is considering adding a second model at its Russian facility once production is able to fully cover Russian Camry demand.