Roland Vardanega, Member of the Managing Board and Executive Vice President, Manufacturing and Components, of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Osamu Masuko, President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) have officially laid the first foundation stone of their joint plant in Russia, located at Kaluga, 180km south-west of Moscow.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Mr Anatoli Artamonov, Governor of the region of Kaluga, and several hundred guests.
The joint plant held 70% by PSA Peugeot Citroën and 30% by MMC will start producing mid-range (C segment) models, as of 2011, for Peugeot and Citroën and mid-range SUVs for the 3 brands. These models will be destined for the Russian automobile market.
The annual production capacity of the plant will be 160,000 units split 110,000 segment C vehicles and 50,000 SUV. Over time, its capacity may be increased to 300,000 units to meet the expected growth of the Russian market.
The plant will employ about 3,000 people and the joint initial investment for the two partners represents €470 million.
Didier Aleton of PSA Peugeot Citroën, former Director of the Russia project, has been appointed Managing Director of the new joint venture. He will oversee the operational management of the project.
For Roland Vardanega, this ceremony marks "the starting point of a tremendous long-term manufacturing project on a highly-promising market, with a partnership based on sharing best practice to reinforce mutual efficiency".
For his part, Osamu Masuko declared that "this project is the outcome of over a year's intense discussions and will lead to even deeper technical exchanges, rich in high potentiality for the two automobile groups".
A few figures on the joint plant:
Site Kaluga, Russia
Location 180km south-west of Moscow
Management Didier Aleton, Managing Director
Surface area About 200 hectares
Including 50 hectares for the suppliers park
Nature of site Auto manufacturing
(stamping, ironwork, paint and assembling)
Production capacity 160,000 vehicles per year (in three shifts)
Vehicles produced C segment Peugeot and Citroën vehicles
Mid-range SUVs for Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Citroën
Initial Investment €470 million
Production starts 2011
Headcount (recruitment) About 3,000 employees
-Fumio Nishizaki, Tetsuji Inoue-
