Spiegel: Porsche top manager secretly invited Putin to resume production of Volga and Pobeda
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Austrian businessman Siegfried Wolff, a member of Porsche’s supervisory board, wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in January offering to help rebuild Russia’s auto industry. This was announced today, April 7, by the German magazine Der Spiegel.
Mr. Wolf offered to use the production facilities of Volkswagen, which left Russia, as well as the GAZ group. In addition, he proposed resuming the production of cars belonging to the VW brand Skoda in the second half of 2023. Mr. Wolf’s plan is to start with the Rapid model at the plant in Kaluga, and then start production of the Octavia, Kodiaq and Karoq models in Nizhny Novgorod. According to Mr. Wolf, the appearance of cars needs to be greatly changed using the “characteristic features” of the Volga and Pobeda models. According to Der Spiegel, among other things, Mr. Wolf called for “reviving the legendary Russian brand Volga”. In his opinion, all this will lay “the basis for the further development of an independent and modern automotive industry in the Russian Federation.”
Mr. Wolf also wrote that the company Promavtoconsult, which, according to some sources, is associated with an Austrian businessman, should be involved in this program. To implement the program, he asked the Russian authorities for a loan of 60 billion rubles. Wolff, according to Der Spiegel, said he had already reached “an agreement in principle” with VW top managers.
VW and Porsche said they knew nothing about Mr. Wolf’s letter.
In March it became knownthat the German auto parts manufacturer Schaeffler is selling its Russian assets to Mr. Wolf. The businessman has been closely associated with Russian business for a long time – in 2008 he joined the board of directors of the Russian Machines company, which, among other things, includes the GAZ group, and in 2010 he became the head of the board of directors.
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