Mercedes plant in Russia. Daimler Concern's project for the construction of a Mercedes plant in the Moscow region

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

As you know, at the moment there are two joint Russian-German productions in Russia, which were launched by the powerful concern Daimler AG. This is a project with the Nizhny Novgorod GAZ, which produces Sprinters of the 2001 model, as well as cooperation with KamAZ, which gives the country several types of commercial trucks and buses. So far, this is all that is produced by the famous Mercedes within our vast Motherland. However, the plans of the Germans regarding the conquest of the territory of the Russian Federation clearly do not end there.

For about two years, there have been rumors in the press that the German conglomerate plans to launch a fairly powerful enterprise in our country to produce its famous cars. The ZiL and KamAZ sites were called as the basis for this. There was also information about intentions to create a production capacity in the St. Petersburg region, but the Germans failed to agree with the government of the Leningrad region. In a word, there has been movement in this direction, but things seem to be still there.

WillMercedes to build a plant in Russia?

I guess so. In the summer of 2016, information appeared about the creation of a joint plant for the production of Mercedes cars in the Moscow region. This significant event will be discussed in this short article. But first things first.

Confidence that this will finally happen is confirmed by information received by the media from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which stated through the deputy director of the relevant department Vsevolod Babushkin that the ministry approved the project at a preliminary stage. And it seems like the next word is for the leadership of the Moscow region, on which the further movement of this initiative now depends. It remains to be hoped that the project will not die, crushed by the bureaucratic machine, as happened a few years earlier in the Leningrad region.

Infrastructure

The Esipovo Industrial Park, where future production is planned to be deployed, is a territory that is still under construction. It is located in the direction of the M10, 32 km from the Moscow Ring Road, near the city of Solnechnogorsk. It is at the design stage, and an acceptable level of infrastructure preparation here will be reached only by 2019. So there is enough time for appropriate coordination and subsequent deployment.

In order for the reader to orient a little in the terminology, a definition should be given. Esipovo Industrial Park, as well as others under construction or under constructiondesign facilities in the Moscow region is a specially organized area where all the necessary infrastructure for large-scale industrial production will be located. In particular, for the aforementioned park, it is planned to create a volume of electricity supply in the amount of 50 MW by 2017. As well as supplying gas, creating our own water intake and appropriate treatment facilities.

Cooperation with GAZ

Having a Mercedes plant in Russia is Daimler's longstanding ambition. Of the already operating productions, it should be noted the joint production in Nizhny Novgorod. Here, a successful collaboration has resulted in an established production line for the Sprinter light commercial vehicle.

In addition, a 2.2-liter Mercedes Benz diesel engine is produced at Russian facilities. The plant in Yaroslavl is engaged in the production of this engine specifically for GAZ.

KAMAZ

Another successful company in the Russian Federation that produces German commercial vehicles is KamAZ PJSC. It all started here with the production of cabins for Chelny trucks, produced since 1976. Although they evoked popular love, at the moment they are clearly lagging behind the standards dictated by the time. So, KamAZ trucks moved to the cab, produced for the Actros model. Now this Mercedes plant in Russia, at the production facilities of the auto giant from Naberezhnye Chelny, produces more than 30 different modifications of trucks and buses.

Localization of global auto giants

This is the generalinformation about existing Mercedes projects that are normally functioning, but all this is the production of commercial vehicles. But what about the famous business and executive class cars, crossovers and many other body types that are only exported to Russia so far? As you know, almost all global brands have already built their localizations in our country.

Among them are Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Kia, Ford and some others. All of them, one way or another, invested quite a lot of money in setting up car production in the Russian Federation. Here you can find both a "screwdriver" assembly and more advanced options with stamping, welding and painting.

Daimler AG project

The volume of investments in the Mercedes plant in the Moscow region has not yet been reported. But it is precisely on the basis of at least an approximate amount of investments that it will be possible to talk about what level of localization is planned by Daimler AG. For example, if the volume of investments is about $10 million, then we are talking about a banal “screwdriver” assembly, which will mean a very slight decrease in the final cost of the Russian Mercedes compared to the imported version. But if the amount approaches a billion, then this means a serious line with stamping parts, welding, etc.

For example, in 2014, BMW planned to invest about one and a half billion euros in the creation of a plant in Kaliningrad. And the speech thenIt was about deep localization and production volume of up to 80 thousand cars a year. Another conversation is that nothing happened. The crisis in the Russian automotive market then did not allow the project to go beyond the negotiations between the leaders of the German concern and the Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad, which, by the way, now produces Russian-made BMWs.

Modern realities

The Mercedes plant in Russia, about which there is so much noise now, is planned against the backdrop of a serious decline in the automotive market of our country. Since 2013, when it just started its downward movement, sales volumes have almost halved. To the credit of Mercedes, their position compared to other automotive giants fell much less. And if we take the share of sales in the total flow, then it even increased from 1.2% of the total market volume in 2012 to 3% in 2015. In 2016, this figure fell slightly to 2.6%. That is, the concern's sales are not falling at such a serious pace as the rest.

In addition, if the Mercedes plant in Russia starts producing the planned volumes, which, by the way, will be approximately 25,000 cars a year, as Daimler representatives say, there is a possibility of a serious increase in the share of public procurement. Since Russian officials can only order cars produced in our country, most likely, the high demand for the brand will make it possible to raise overall sales quite well through this sales market.

Conclusion

In fact, the ordeal of Daimler in creating its own production of passenger cars in Russia, as it seems, shouldreach a logical conclusion. Moreover, the big work carried out by the concern in previous years clearly gave them vast experience in how to deal with Russian officials and legislation specific to them.

The Mercedes plant in Russia, where the real production of their cars, that is, a hybrid of KamAZ and Daimler, is located, shows that cooperation is possible. Now it remains to hope that the authorities of the Moscow region will be able to agree on all the subtleties that are enough. For example, there is information that the Esipovo industrial park, on the territory of which, we recall, it is planned to create this production unit, has problems with local environmental structures, which, by the way, are against deforestation, where the future plant will be located.

Be that as it may, the Moscow region is interested in the emergence of such a project on its territory. We will expect a positive decision and the subsequent start of production of modern Russian-made Mercedes cars.