OREANDA-NEWS. Kaliningrad plant "Avtotor" in the case of decision of General Motors to return to production in Russia will be ready to follow the earlier plans for cooperation, said the president of "Avtotor-Holding", Valery Draganov.

The last car GM was assembled at "Avtotor" at the beginning of March, said in his turn, the press secretary of the enterprise, Sergey Lugovoi. According to him, GM in February announced the transfer of all of its production to Kaliningrad companies in St. Petersburg.

"If in the future the situation in the market will allow GM to return to the production in Russia, "Avtotor" is ready to follow the previously planned large-scale plans for cooperation within the automotive cluster in Kaliningrad and positively accept the return of GM in the number of participants”, - said Mr.Draganov, who is cited by the agency "Prime".

He recalled that the cooperation venture from GM, which lasted for many years, is expected to further deepen technologies and large-scale plans for the creation and development of full-profile productions with investments from both sides, and it was stated in a joint memorandum. "Recently, however, it became clear that GM is not ready to invest in the implementation of the plans. In this connection it becomes futile work on localization of components and further cooperation in the framework of GM in Kaliningrad, "- said the head of "Avtotor”.

According to him, GM, which is hoping to improve its position in the market, decided to transfer the production of a wide range from the "Avtotor" at its plant in St. Petersburg. "However, we understand that without investment to put into production a wide range is unlikely. Against the background of falling market it became evident for the management of GM. We consider that the decision of GM to stop the production in Russia has purely economic character”, - said Mr. Draganov.

As previously reported, this year, GM will stop the contract assembly of Chevrolet Aveo and at the facilities of "GAZ Group" in Nizhny Novgorod. Meanwhile, own plant of concern in St. Petersburg from March 18th stopped the production of cars Chevrolet Cruze and Opel Astra on a full cycle and SKD- assembly will continue until the end of June. Loss of budget of St. Petersburg from the stop of General Motors plant will be 70-100 million Rubles, said the head of the Committee for Industrial Policy and Innovation Petersburg, Maxim Meyksin.

Thus, the only GM production in Russia will be the joint venture “GM-AvtoVAZ" for the production of SUV Chevrolet Niva. Meanwhile, work on the pre-production of the new Chevrolet Niva is suspended; the press service of the joint venture informed the agency "AUTOSTAT".

In its turn, the Ministry of Industry of the Russian Federation believe that the low level of localization of production of General Motors was the main reason for the fall in demand for the products of the Group in the Russian market, and the situation with the ruble also exacerbated the already difficult situation. Meanwhile, the US General Motors has not applied officially to the Ministry of Economic Development for the termination of the agreement on "industrial assembly", so to evaluate the effects of withdrawal of Russia is still early, said the press secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development, Elena Lashkina. According to her, other automakers that are operating in Russia on industrial assembly regime, do not declare their intention to leave the Russian market.