As RBC reports, the owner of the production site in Yesipovo, the Avtodom auto holding, intends to assemble cars under its own brand – in the future, the company wants to introduce eight models to the Russian market. “Today we are definitely planning to launch one brand, and further actions will depend on sales, and on the capacity utilization of the enterprise, and on the partners that we will continue to attract to the development of our project,” said Avtodom General Director Andrei Olkhovsky.
The Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Rus plant in Esipovo operated under the control of the German concern from 2019 to 2022 – its construction and launch cost Mercedes-Benz 19 billion rubles, including the cost of employee training. In the spring of 2022, after the start of the SVO, Mercedes-Benz suspended operations in Russia, including car assembly, and later completely got rid of Russian assets. So the plant went to the Avtodom auto holding.
The ex-Mercedes-Benz plant in Russia will begin producing Chinese cars. A batch of LiXiang L9 was brought to the former Mercedes plant in the Moscow region. The test assembly of cars has begun at the ex-Mercedes-Benz plant in Russia.
It was possible to resume production of cars in test mode only at the end of 2023. At the same time, information appeared that Avtodom was negotiating with potential partners from China who could act as technological partners and help restart production. Specific Chinese companies were not named, but it was stated that the plant in Esipovo would produce passenger cars.
And just the other day, at least fifty Li Auto cars were spotted on the territory of the production site opposite one of the workshops. As Drom wrote, the site is temporarily used as a warehouse, and there is no inside information about the assembly production of LiXiang L9 at the plant in the Moscow region.
Russian-Chinese badge engineering
