KALININGRAD, June 5. /TASS/. Russian automobile holding Avtotor plans to increase production of cars by 20% year-on-year in 2019, the company’s founder Vladimir Shcherbakov told reporters on Wednesday.
"Last year we produced slightly more than 203,000 cars. <…> This year, we expect to produce about 245,000 [cars], this is exactly 20% [up year-on-year]," he said.
Shcherbakov added that this year the holding plans to invest 100 mln euros in automobile production. According to him, these funds are part of total investment worth 12 bln rubles (164 mln euros) for 10 years stipulated by a special investment contract Avtotor intends to conclude before July 1.
The Avtotor holding was founded in 1994 in Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost region. The plant started production in 1997. It produces cars under BMW, KIA and Hyundai brands. In 21 years the company produced more than 2 mln cars.
Special investment contract is a new mechanism to support foreign and domestic car manufacturers. Its key advantage is in guaranteeing standing taxation conditions in exchange for a guarantee of investments to be made by the business.