A new friend: 110 thousand Chinese crossovers will be assembled in Kaluga
The Kaluga region will significantly increase the volume of car production in 2025, said the head of the region Vladislav Shapsha. According to him, it is planned to assemble more than 110 thousand cars at the former Volkswagen plant alone. Experts say that the plans are realistic, but much will depend on the situation in the automobile market, as well as on a number of external factors. Izvestia" found out what models will be assembled in Kaluga.
Increased obligations
In 2025, 110 thousand new cars will be assembled at the former Volkswagen plant in Kaluga region. This was announced by the head of the region Vladislav Shapsha at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The governor reported to the head of state that at the end of last year in Kaluga region 13 thousand cars were assembled. And this result was achieved "only at the debugging stage", he emphasized.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kaluga Region Governor Vladislav Shapsha (left) during a meeting
- When the automobile cluster, which is 30 interconnected enterprises, 10 thousand people of working staff - Volkswagen, Peugeot-Citroën and Volvo, the three grands, stopped, we did not give up. Together with the government, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, we looked for partners. All these enterprises are now owned by Russian investors, and all of them have been working since the middle of last year," the head of the Kaluga Region reported to Vladimir Putin.
During the meeting with the President of Russia Vladislav Shapsha noted that before the automobile industry gave the region up to 40% of industrial production. He promised that this year car production in the Kaluga region will increase significantly.
- This year we will produce more than 110 thousand cars at our former Volkswagen plant. The former Peugeot-Citroen will produce Haval under contract assembly, 25 thousand cars will be produced. And we also have trucks - more than 2 thousand cars have already been produced, and also this work will be continued, so we are returning to our previous indicators, - promised the governor.
Volkswagen is turning...
Vladislav Shapsha did not specify which cars will be put on the assembly line of the former VW plant. However, Izvestia's analysis of the data on vehicle type approvals published in the Rosstandart database showed that at the end of November last year, the Chera "type T3X" (under this official name the Tiggo 4 Pro model is concealed) received an OTC. Another OTTS was obtained in early February 2025 for Chery "type 32", i.e. Tiggo 7 Pro. In both cases, the Russian company AGK is listed as the manufacturer of the vehicles.
Tiggo 7 Pro car
According to the Rusprofile counterparty verification service, the main activity of AGK LLC is the production of motor vehicles, and the company's registration address (Kaluga region, Kaluga, Automobilnaya Street, 1) coincides with the address of the former Volkswagen plant. The company's founder is listed as AGR Holding LLC, which is related to AGR LLC, the manufacturer of Solaris cars at a facility in St. Petersburg.
...In Tenet?
In December, the Russian Car Telegram channel reported a large number of Chery Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 at the Kaluga event's accumulation sites. In the teaser of the new Tenet car brand published by AGK on February 12, it is easy to identify the updated Tiggo 7 crossover shown to Russian journalists in China last fall. It has characteristic inserts in the bumper with a stripe pattern and round fog lights. The same car with the Tiggo 7L nameplate was photographed in February at the site of a Moscow car dealer by the Chinese Car publication.
The experts interviewed by Izvestiya believe it is quite probable that the former VW plant will increase the production of Chery cars (possibly under the new Tenet brand) and due to this the enterprise will reach the production level announced by the governor of the Kaluga Region. However, Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, notes that the increase in output is possible if the Chinese car brand decides to replace imported models on our market with localized ones.
- I strongly doubt that with the situation that is now developing in the market, it will be able to "swallow" both the current volume of imported models and the additional volume of analogs assembled in the country," he said.
According to Avtostat-Info agency, 69,832 Chery Tiggo 7 cars (all modifications and versions), as well as 53,183 "fours" were sold in Russia last year. It is these crossovers became the most popular models of Chery brand in the Russian market in 2024.
The declared 110 thousand cars is about half of the capacity utilization of the former VW plant in Kaluga, provided that the paint and welding shops are mothballed and their mothballing is not planned this year, notes Dmitry Babansky, Director of the Consulting Department of SBS Consulting.
Tiggo 7 car
- This volume, of course, looks ambitious, but with certain efforts it is feasible," he told Izvestia.
Igor Morzharetto, a partner of Avtostat analytical agency, is more reserved in his assessment of the prospects of the former Volkswagen plant.
- I would very much like to believe and hope that these figures can be achieved this year. But there are many different economic and geopolitical factors that can significantly affect the final result," he emphasized.
According to Igor Morzharetto, the adjustment of production in our country of the most popular models on the Russian market is an attempt of automakers to at least partially reduce the impact of increased rates of utilization fee on them. However, Dmitry Babansky does not link the organization of production of Chinese crossovers in Kaluga with an attempt to "escape" from the utilization fee. He believes that this is an opportunity to strengthen its position on the Russian market.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
