REUTERS
Carmaker Opel says it will withdraw from the Russia market completely, while Chevrolet will keep selling only its premium models in Russia in view of extremely low sales in late 2014 and early 2015.
Opel’s plant in St. Petersburg will be mothballed by late June, while assembly works at Kaliningrad Avtotor are to be completed in February. Chevrolet will leave only premium models Corvette, Tahoe, and Camaro in the Russian market.
The assembly of other cars of this brand at GAZ will be completed by the end of the year, Russian news agency RBC has reported.
The joint venture of U.S. General Motors with AvtoVAZ - GM-Avtovaz - will be continued, but a project to build a plant to produce second generation Chevrolet Nivas has been shelved.
Car sales under the Cadillac brand, which is also part of General Motors, will not be discontinued in Russia, but GM will focus on selling only premium Chevrolet and Cadillac models. The dealer network will be restructured by the end of the year. Servicing and spare parts for the discontinued brands will still be available, the company has stated.
Most of the General Motors models were produced at Russian plants. The Avtotor enterprise in Kaliningrad was producing the Opel Zafira, Meriva, and Insignia, and the Chevrolet Aveo. General Motors Auto in St. Petersburg was assembling the Chevrolet Cruze and Captiva; the Opel Antara, Astra and Mokka. The Chevrolet Niva was assembled at a plant in Togliatti.
As earlier reported, the Nissan plant in St. Petersburg suspended production from March 16 to 31 due to the difficult economic situation in Russia and a sharp drop in consumer demand.