August 28, 2008

Belarusian truck maker considers foreign car assembly project

RIA Novosti reported that Belarusian truck producer MAZ is considering starting the assembly of light vehicles mostly for the Russian market and is in talk with foreign carmakers.

Mr Nikolai Kosten general director of MAZ said "We are holding talks with three foreign companies AvtoVAZ a German and a Chinese company. He said it would take two or three years to coordinate everything, which would be followed by the preparation and equipping of the production facilities for the assembly of the cars.”

Mr Nikolai Kosten said annual output will initially be between 20,000 and 50,000 cars most of which will be sold on the Russian market.

State-owned MAZ is one of the largest state producers of heavy duty trucks as well as buses, trolley buses, trailers and semi trailers in Eastern Europe. The company sells around 60% of its vehicles to Russia, over 19,000 units in 2007.