Avtotor


Avtotor is an automobile manufacturing company located in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Avtotor was established in 1996, and by 2008 it was one of the largest producers and assemblers of cars in the world.The company's revenue for 2011 was reported to be approximately 4 billion euros and the company had reported to have 3,500 employees.

History

Avtotor was founded in 1996 by a group of investors led by current majority owner and chairman of the board of directors, Vladimir Shcherbakov.
With an investment of $130,000,000, an assembly plant was installed in an unoccupied shipyard in Kaliningrad, with an original plan to produce Nissan automobiles. The name of the company is a portmanteau of "auto" and the German word "tor", meaning "gate". In 1997, the new plant also began assembling Kia automobiles.
In the aftermath of the 1998 Russian financial crisis, the company found itself in a difficult financial position as the automobile sales dropped significantly. To mitigate the consequences of the crisis, the company transitioned the business model. The company secured a contract with BMW to spare Avtotor the cost of buying components.
Later, the company began a partnership with General Motors, starting full-scale assembly on the Chevrolet Lacetti.

Cooperations

BMW

Assembly of the BMW vehicles began in August 1999, with the BMW 5 Series and 7 Series. In the first year, 555 cars were produced. In March 2001, it began the assembly of the BMW 3 Series, and later, of the new 5 Series.
In July 2009, the capacity of the plant was increased and Avtotor began production of the crossovers BMW X5 and X6. At the end of May 2010, Avtotor announced the start of assembly on the new BMW 5 Series for the Russian market, from kits received from Germany.
The BMW line-up produced in Kaliningrad has expanded over the time with the following models: E65/66, F01/F02, E90, E70, E71, E83 and E84.
In May 2015, BMW released a statement postponing the decision to invest in another plant in Russia, due to economic uncertainty in the country. There have been rumors in the media about the quality of Russian made BMWs.

General Motors

In August 2003, Avtotor and General Motors signed a set of agreements on the organization of production of GM vehicles at the Kaliningrad plant.
In August 2004, the Kaliningrad plant started production of the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and Chevrolet Tahoe, and in October 2004, of the Hummer H2. In July 2005, they were joined by the Cadillac CTS, SRX and STS.
On 21 November 2008, started of the production of the Chevrolet Lacetti in full cycle, including welding and painting. This investment in the organization of the production on the part of GM in Avtotor amounted to 80 million euros.
The other models produced at the Kaliningrad plant include the Cadillac Escalade, the Chevrolet Aveo, Epica, Malibu, Orlando, Captiva, and the Opel Astra, Zafira, Meriva, Insignia, Mokka, and Antara.
Since the existence of the project, Avtotor produced over 362,107 cars for GM's brands.

Hyundai Motor Company

In September 2012, the company began production of the commercial vehicle Hyundai HD-78, with a capacity up to 3.5 tonnes, and in 2013, of the trucks Hyundai HD-170 and HD-120. In March 2013, the company started assembly of the Hyundai i40 sedan and estate, and in July 2013, of the brand's flagship, the Hyundai Equus. In October 2015, the Hyundai Elantra was added to the line-up.

Kia Motors

In 1996, Avtotor signed a general agreement with Kia that led to the construction of the plant and the assembly of cars for the Russian market. Construction began on 15 January 1997, and on 17 May 1997 the plant launched the assembly line of the Kia models. The plant has produced more than 240,000 vehicles for Kia.
Among the models produced at the Avtotor plant are the Clarus, Rocsta, Avella, Besta, Pregio, Carnival I, Carnival II, Rio I, Rio II, Opirus I, Opirus II, Magentis I, Magentis II, Carens I, Carens II, Sportage I, Sportage II, Sportage III, Ceed, Soul and Mohave.
In February 2016, Avtotor started production on the Kia Optima.

NAC

In June 2005, "Autotor-Trucks", part of a group of companies Autotor, began to collaborate with NAVECO, which is part of the : en: Nanjing Automobile Corporation|Nanjing Automobile Corporation. Lineup Yuejin - this is a broad range of low-bed delivery trucks with a payload of 0.8 tonnes to 24 tonnes. On August 10, 2006, the first batch of trucks was completed successfully. In 2007, "Autotor-Trucks" produced and sold through their agent "Autotor Vans', 1940 units of commercial vehicles.
In 2007, "Autotor-Trucks", like the rest of the group Autotor, received a certificate of conformity of quality management standards ISO 9002. And to date, continues to manufacture the flatbed brand Yuejin, models NJ 1020, NJ 1041, NJ 1080.
Currently, work is underway to expand the lineup due of vehicles with larger capacity. "Autotor-Trucks" and its distributor "Autotor Commercial Vehicles" offers its customers a wide range of options: special equipment add-ons; Vans ; loading platforms with various manipulators; haulers; and other add-ons.

Former cooperations

Chery Automobile

car assembly in the Kaliningrad factory began in 2006. Chery car sales began in Russia in May 2006.
In 2006, it sold around 13,000 units. About 80% of cars sold in Russia were collected.
In the first six months of 2007 18,558 vehicles were sold, allowing Chery to take 12th place in the overall ranking in terms of sales in Russia. In 2007, in Russia it sold 37,120 Chery cars. The factory produced 40,000 Chery cars that same year from semi-knocked-down kits.
In March 2008, Avtotor stopped the Chery car assembly. The main cause was the fear that the government would deprive the factory of its privileges enjoyed under the Special Economic Zone, such as duty-free import of components.

Awards and Recognition