The St. Petersburg plant previously belonging to the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has been handed over to the Russian high-end car manufacturer Aurus, Gyenisz Manturov, Acting Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, announced on Tuesday. The brand is best known for producing limousines for the Russian president.
Production at the plant will start this year, Manturov added.
Toyota closed the plant in 2022 and withdrew from the Russian market amid Ukraine-related sanctions against Moscow. The plant producing the Camry and RAV4 models was later sold to the Central Scientific Research Institute of Automobile and Vehicle Engines, abbreviated NAMI, which owns the Aurus brand. In 2022, the institute also bought the share of the French car manufacturer Renault in the Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ.
The Aurus is a family of luxury cars created a decade ago to replace the fleet of mostly foreign-made cars used by Russia’s top officials. The brand debuted at the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2018. On Tuesday, Putin used an updated version of the luxury car at his inauguration ceremony in Moscow.
The cars are assembled at NAMI’s Moscow factory and an assembly plant in Tatarstan, which was previously a joint venture between Russia’s Sollers and the American car manufacturer Ford. Last year, production of the Aurus also started in the United Arab Emirates.
In January, Manturov said that Aurus is expected to expand its range of vehicles with more affordable and mass models. Sales of the new large executive and business class sedans will begin in 2025.
In February, President Putin presented an Aurus to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
