The U.S. auto maker has held a 60% interest in the JV since 2002. Since 1999 the factory has produced more than 2.5 million diesel engines, most of them earmarked for GM vehicles.
The company built 16,513 vehicles last year, up 124.5% from 2011. The total figure for 2012 includes 5,058 Ladas, 4,899 Kias, 4,002 Chevrolets and 2,554 Skodas.
The SUV’s assembly is an additional program for the St. Petersburg facility, which also builds Chevrolet Cruze and Opel Astra sedans and hatchbacks from CKD kits.
Sales of all models are plummeting, but the market’s share of imports has soared from 52% in 2008 to 90% in 2012. Importers say the higher duties will raise prices between 7.8% and 15.6%.
The Russia-made Explorers will be manufactured at the same high level of efficiency and to the same quality standards as those built at the Chicago Assembly Plant in the U.S., the auto maker says.
The new production hall will see the start the start of machining, mainly of engine blocks for the MDB engines, in early 2014. A new assembly line with capacity of up to 1,000 engines a day is expected to launch...