The site is called “Avtozavod St. Petersburg
Vice President for Sales and Marketing of the Russian automaker Dmitry Kostromin said that the former Nissan plant in St. Petersburg, purchased by «AvtoVAZ» exactly a year ago, returned to state ownership again.
«St. Petersburg, which came to us at the end of 2022, in 2023, now, as far as you know, we have given it back to the state. Now it is an independent factory unit, — said Dmitry Kostromin.
The plant returned to the ownership of the State Automobile and Automotive Institute «NAMI», subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which in 2022 bought it from Nissan for a symbolic price with the right to repurchase the site within 6 years.
The transfer of the plant back to the state has become a necessity, which is associated with sanctions risks, since AvtoVAZ, with its new Chinese partner Chery, is preparing the plant for restart. In the future, the fate of the site may follow two scenarios: either it will remain in state ownership and contract assembly for Chery will be organized on it, or NAMI will transfer it to the operational management of the Chinese side.
At the end of January it became known that AvtoVAZ is no longer the owner of LLC «Avtozavod St. Petersburg» (former Nissan plant). LLC «Avtozavod St. Petersburg» was sold to another legal entity, and the transaction was presumably completed on January 24.