Toyota Motor Manufacturing Russia (TMMR) has announced plans to start the production of its current generation Toyota RAV4 model at its manufacturing facility in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from 2016.
The production of this new model will see an investment of RUB5.2bn (EUR135m) and is expected to create 800 new jobs in the initial stage. This new production is destined for Russia and Belarus
This decision of the company to add the Toyota RAV4 production to TMMR's operations has been made in response to the strong sales of this vehicle in Russia.
Toyota noted that the RAV4 established a solid reputation with Russian customers since its launch in Russia in 2002, and has become its best-seller across all segments in Russia.
TMMR general director Yoshinori Matsunaga said: "This decision is a sign of trust for our employees and recognition of TMMR's efforts for the last 6 years to produce high quality Toyota vehicles."
Toyota Motor Europe president and CEO Didier Leroy said: "By localising the production of RAV4 at TMMR, we further commit to continuing our contributions to the development of the Russian automobile industry and providing products that satisfy Russian consumers."
Including this new investment, the plant will also see a total investment of RUB16bn (EUR370m).
This model follows the company's Toyota Camry, which was produced since the start of operations of TMMR in 2007. In 2012, TMMR initiated a second shift and started supply of Toyota Camry vehicles to neighbouring Kazakhstan. As a result, TMMR's production volume doubled in 2012 compared to 2011 figures, totalling approximately 28,400 units versus approximately 14,100 units in 2011.
