Do not Neva follow US – Newspaper Kommersant No. 45 (7490) of 03/17/2023

Subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Trade NAMI, which in 2022 actively assembled factories of foreign automakers in the Russian Federation, can also receive the assets of Japanese Toyota. As Kommersant’s sources say, NAMI does not plan to independently produce cars on it and, by analogy with the former Nissan site, it may then transfer the plant to a domestic player. But at KamAZ, which could become a partner in such a scheme, they deny the existence of interest. According to Kommersant, one of the interested parties may be Almaz-Antey, whose employees were present during the prosecutor’s inspection at the Toyota plant at the end of 2022 and which is working on the E-Neva electric crossover.

The head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, on the sidelines of the RUIE congress, said that “the transfer of Russian assets of Toyota to NAMI is being worked out” (quote from “RIA News”). Federal State Unitary Enterprise NAMI is subordinate to the ministry and has already received 67.6% in AvtoVAZ from Renault, which left the Russian market, as well as Nissan’s assets during the winding down of this automaker’s business in Russia. The Nissan plant was subsequently transferred to AvtoVAZ. Last summer, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and NAMI offered other foreign automakers to transfer their Russian business for a symbolic amount with the right to buy back, spoke sources “Kommersant”.

Then Toyota did not go for it. The company has a plant in the Russian Federation in Shushary (Petersburg). In the fall of 2022, it was announced that it would be closed, but the decision did not involve the brand leaving the Russian Federation. According to the reporting for nine months (since April 2022), the company wrote off about $790 million against this background. At the end of autumn 2022, a large-scale inspection organized by the regional prosecutor’s office began at the Toyota Motor LLC plant in St. Petersburg. Specialists of the Almaz-Antey East Kazakhstan and Federal State Unitary Enterprise NAMI were invited to participate in it (see “Kommersant” dated December 1, 2022).

Sources of Kommersant say that the scheme for the purchase of the NAMI plant does not imply that the Federal State Unitary Enterprise will conduct production itself.

We are probably talking about a repetition of the situation with the Nissan site, when after the deal the asset went to AvtoVAZ: the Russian concern is now preparing to start producing Chinese models there under its own brand. Prior to the interest of AvtoVAZ, the organization of production at the plant was worked out by KamAZ, Vedomosti wrote. At KamAZ, Kommersant was told that they were not considering participating in the production of cars at the Toyota plant.

One of Kommersant’s interlocutors knows about the discussions on the release of the Almaz-Antey E-Neva electric crossover at the Toyota site. At the same time, he does not see the logic in this path, since the start of the serial assembly of this machine is still far away.

As Mikhail Podvyaznikov, director of the North-West Regional Center Almaz-Antey, reported on February 16, mass production E-Neva will start at the end of 2026. “We are resolving the issue with the Ministry of Industry and Trade about where it will be produced. There were no offers from AvtoVAZ. We want to produce our own cars, AvtoVAZ produces its own cars,” he said. “We will cooperate and cooperate within the framework of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on those details or redistributions that are common to the entire automotive industry.” Almaz-Antey is under blocking sanctions, so Toyota could not transfer the plant to the company directly.

NAMI did not comment on the possible transfer of the asset for the assembly of E-Neva. Toyota declined to comment.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that the discussion of the future plant continues: “The decision is practically formed and will be announced after the conclusion of an official agreement.” The Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the new owner, will work out various partnership options “for a speedy restart” of the asset.

Among the announced domestic projects, the production site for which has not yet been named, is the Atom electric car. The authorities of Tatarstan spoke about the start of assembly in mid-2024. It will be produced by the Kama company, the main investors are KamAZ CEO Sergey Kogogin and businessman Ruben Vardanyan. At the same time, Sergei Kogogin is under sanctions, including the United States.

Sergey Udalov from Avtostat agrees that the transfer of Toyota assets to NAMI looks like a technical story: “NAMI can act as an intermediate link to look for those who will produce cars. But investors will no longer need to negotiate with a Japanese company, but with representatives of the Russian Federation.”

He believes that the scheme is designed, among other things, to speed up the process of restarting the plant. At the same time, the analyst does not see obvious interested parties on the market in the Toyota area. Mr. Udalov also believes that it is strange to take the plant for such distant projects as E-Neva.

Olga Nikitina