Asia Avto Sees Best-Ever H1 Output

VIENNA – Asia Avto reports its best-ever figures for the first half of the year since beginning vehicle assembly in 2003.

The auto maker, based in Ustj-Kamenogorsk, Kazahkstan, assembled 2,609 units from semi-knocked-down kits over the year’s first six months, up 160.9% from like-2010. Previously its best first-half was in 2007, with 2,193 assemblies.

Kazakhstan plant’s first-half output is best-ever.

Asia Avto built 936 Lada, 934 Kia, 468 Chevrolet and 271 Skoda units in the period. Output through June represented 18.3% of Kazakhstan’s new-car sales.

“We assembled over 700 units in July and anticipate achieving 1,000 units a month towards the end of the year,” Asia Avto President Erzhan Mandiev says.

The company’s portfolio includes 17 Lada, Chevrolet, Kia and Skoda models. It will add two more Chevrolet models, the Cruze hatchback and Orlando minivan, in November.