Building Jeeps in Russia

[Dr Mordrid]

Detroit News....

Fiat SpA has reached an agreement to with Sberbank Rossii to build Jeeps in Russia, according to reports in the Italian media Sunday.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said Sberbank, which is controlled by the Russian government, has inked a letter of intent with Fiat to open two factories to assemble vehicles under the Jeep name.

The paper said Fiat will own 80 percent of the joint venture, while Sberbank will own the remaining 20 percent.

That is consistent with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's insistence that Fiat control any joint ventures involving the Jeep brand -- the jewel in Chrysler Group LLC's crown. Fiat took control of the Auburn Hills-based automaker after Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009 as part of a deal brokered by the Obama administration.

Marchionne said recently that much of Chrysler's growth in 2012 will come from expanding Jeep's overseas sales in markets where its name is already well known.

Russia is Europe's fastest growing automobile market, and is set to pass Germany to become the region's largest.

[paulw]

Made out of Lada left overs??

[UtwigMU]

No, those made from Lada are called Chevrolet. I think GM is really screwing up it's brand by calling anything from Daweoo Matiz to Lada Niva to Corvette Chevrolet.

In ex Soviet Union roads are long and not so well maintained so SUV/terrain vehicles (Russians use word jeep/dzhip/джип) are extremely popular. Mostly Lexuses, Porsche Cayennes, Toyota Landcruisers, BMW X5s, Mercedes Benz and the like. Lada Niva is popular (also outside Russia, since it's one of best cheap terrain vehicles) and a good one costs ~3000-5000 USD. Highly paid workers drive those (one of my friends who is younger than me switched from BMW SUV to Merc SUV). Middle class drives used Golfs, Focuses, Mitsubishis, Hyundais. Poorer people have a family Lada or use public transport.

Even in poorest republics like Moldova expensive SUVs like Audi Q7 are not uncommon.

Fiat has already been cooperating with Lada in the past. Otherwise there have been many car factories opened up in Russia and rest of Soviet union. For instance VW has factories in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.

People there mainly like SUVs and generally cars of German or Japanese make. You can't see almost any Renaults, Fiats and Peugeots (which are common in Europe) there. Also no American cars except Ford. They prefer petrol over diesel because in some parts winters get extremely cold and it's a problem to start a diesel.

Another problem is import tariff for used cars. For example until this was introduced and until there was a trade union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan people imported cars from abroad a lot and a good used European car would cost more there than here. There were protests in Vladivostok in far east region where people mainly imported left hand drive Japanese cars into Russia.

[paulw]

No, those made from Lada are called Chevrolet. I think GM is really screwing up it's brand by calling anything from Daweoo Matiz to Lada Niva to Corvette Chevrolet.

Seems to be a problem world wide with GM. Across the ditch in Australia all GM stuff is branded Holden. Common joke here in NZ is it's Holden together. They have made some big branding boo boos over the past 12 or so years here. Selling the Chevy Suburban and a Holden Suburban. Allot of people who bought them bought Chevrolet rebadging kits. The latest sale boob was the UK Top Gear car called all over the world as a Chevrolet Lacetti but in Ozz they called it a Holden Viva. Didn't sell as the term Viva for a car reminded people in NZ of a British heap of crap from the 1960s/70s called Vauxhall Viva.

Funny thing is when GM in Ozz sells cars outside Australia they rebadge them Chevrolet or Buicks..