Andersson May Be Named President of Russia’s AvtoVAZ

VIENNA – Bo Andersson, president and CEO of Russian truck manufacturer GAZ, likely will be named president of AvtoVAZ, the country’s largest automaker.

He would replace current President Igor Komarov, who is stepping down in order to take over a new position in Russia’s space industry.

Komarov, AvtoVAZ’s president since August 2009, is expected to be appointed head of the newly created Obyedinennaya Raketno-Kosmicheskaya Korporatsya (United Rocket and Space Corp.), the Kommersant business daily reports.

Russian media reported last week that Komarov might leave the automaker, but the news was not officially confirmed until Wednesday.

Renault owns 25% of AvtoVAZ.

AvtoVAZ says in a news release that Komarov; Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan and chairman of AvtoVAZ’s supervisory board; and Sergey Chemezov, managing director of another AvtoVAZ shareholder Rostekhnologii and vice chairman of the automaker’s supervisory board, will propose Andersson as “one of possible candidates for AvtoVAZ’s President” at the next board meeting.

Oleg Lobanov, AvtoVAZ’s executive vice president-finance and corporate development, will serve as interim president.

Alliance Rostec Auto, a joint venture owned 50.1% by Renault, 17.03% by Nissan and 32.87% by the Russian state-owned company Rostekhnologii, will take over 74.5% of AvtoVAZ by mid-2014.

AvtoVAZ manufactures Lada-branded cars and the Nissan Almera sedan and will add production of Renault cars this year and Datsun cars in 2014. The automaker plans to reach annual production of more than 1.6 million units at its plants in Togliatti and Izhevsk in 2020.