Suzuki to build car plant in St Petersburg, Russia

Suzuki Motor Corporation has decided to build a new automobile assembly production plant in St Petersburg to meet the growing demand for new cars in the Russian market.

The 243,000 square metre sized plant will be built in St Petersburg’s Shushary industrial zone.

An agreement on the new plant’s construction was signed on 8 June, 2007 by Suzuki’s Chairman and CEO, Osamu Suzuki, and Russia’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Herman Gref, who were attending the St Petersburg Economic Forum.

Mr Suzuki also signed a memorandum with the Governor of St Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, agreeing to conduct studies on strategic investment in the Shushary industrial zone.

The St Petersburg plant will represent an investment of approximately 90 million euro (14 billion Japanese yen) and is scheduled to start operating in the latter half of 2009. Models planned for production are the Grand Vitara compact sport utility vehicle and the SX4 sport crossover vehicle.

With 500 employees in the new plant, Suzuki targets production of 5,000 units in the plant’s first year of operation and future annual production of 30,000 units. In 2006, Suzuki’s 30 dealers in Russia sold 16,000 units of the Grand Vitara and other models.

Overview of new plant

Company name (tentative): SUZUKI AUTO MFG RUS LLC

Location: St Petersburg’s Shushary industrial zone

Investment ratio: 50% Suzuki Motor Corporation, 50% Itochu Corporation

Plant site area: 243,000 sqm

Total investment: approx. 90 million euro (14 billion Japanese yen)

Models to be produced: Grand Vitara and SX4

Number of employees: 500