Russia

Crewe/St. Petersburg, June 25, 2008 -- The new Bentley dealership in the heart of Russia´s elegant northern capital on the Neva is the third in this emerging key market. Together with its Russian partner Mercury Group Bentley Motors hosted an exclusive opening party in the garden of the Petropavlov Fortress.

With the new showcase in Saint Petersburg Bentley Motors is significantly expanding its dealer network in the growing Russian market. It is the third – the two others are located in Moscow – and is set in a bustling new business area, at the crossing of Gelsingforsskaya Street and Vyborgskaya embankment along the Neva river.

Jun 10, 2008 -- Volvo Cars received several prestigious awards in Russia in 2007 and to date in 2008. The most recent is for the Volvo XC90, which was crowned best crossover - "2008 SUV of the Year".

2008 Volvo XC90

"There was immensely tough competition and we are very proud over this prestigious award," says Volvo Car Russia's PR director, Alexei Kozhukhov, who received the award at a ceremony in Moscow.

Russian car owners voted the Volvo XC90 the best choice on the market.

Motoring organisation Club 4x4 runs the competition, in which eight categories are featured.

Kaluga, 10 June 2008 — Roland Vardanega, Member of the Managing Board and Executive Vice President, Manufacturing and Components, of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Osamu Masuko, President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) have officially laid the first foundation stone of their joint plant in Russia, located at Kaluga, 180km south-west of Moscow.

The ceremony took place in the presence of Mr Anatoli Artamonov, Governor of the region of Kaluga, and several hundred guests.

The joint plant held 70% by PSA Peugeot Citroën and 30% by MMC will start producing mid-range (C segment) models, as of 2011, for Peugeot and Citroën and mid-range SUVs for the 3 brands. These models will be destined for the Russian automobile market.

First batch to Africa and Russia

2008-05-27 -- In the midst of May, 270 Gwperi were shipped to Algeria and its surrounding countries from Xingang, Tianjin, China. At the same time, another 286 Gwperi were transported to Russia by railway. Today, 710 Gwperi have been exported since its launching. Hence, the target to launching Gwperi both at home and abroad has been realized.

Gwperi waiting for shipment

Tokyo, May 19, 2008 — Christian Streiff, Chairman of the Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Osamu Masuko, President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), have signed a joint venture agreement to produce vehicles for 3 brands, Peugeot, Citroën and Mitsubishi in Russia.

The assembly plant will be located on the site of Kaluga, 180 km South-West of Moscow. It will produce mid-range SUVs for Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Citroën brands as well as medium size Peugeot and Citroën vehicles, with an overall installed capacity of 160,000 vehicles. The foundation stone of this future plant will be laid on June 10th 2008 in Kaluga. Production is currently planned for 2011 start-up.

May 13, 2008 -- A campaigning project to rescue and revive an endangered and environmentally- sensitive urban park in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has won the 2008 Volvo Adventure and the US$10,000 first prize, the five students of the ‘Green Sail' team, beating off stiff competition at the World Final in Gothenburg today (Tuesday).

Having won their own Russian national title, the power of five young students, Arthur Erofyev, Darya Aleksandrova, Mary Ermylova, Nastya Horytonova, Julia Udina was demonstrated on stage at the Gothenburg Convention Centre on Monday as they brought the plight of the park to the world in an inspired and impassioned presentation to the Volvo Adventure World Final jury and an audience of over 500 young environmentalists.

Berlin / St. Petersburg, 24 April 2008 -- Bentley Motors is further expanding its dealer network in the growing Russian market and today opens a new showroom in St. Petersburg. The official press conference, marking the opening of the new dealership to customers, was hosted by Michael Mayer, Regional Director Europe.

Two products to be launched in September 2008 in addition to six models in line up by end of 2011

Tokyo, April 17, 2008 -- Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., is announcing plans to enter the Russian light commercial vehicle (LCV) market in 2008. Nissan Motor Rus, will launch the NP300 pick up and the Cabstar light duty truck in September, this year. The range will be extended to six products by the end of 2011.

The vehicles will be sold through a network of specialised Nissan LCV centres, which will be constituted as part of the existing Nissan dealer network. This network will provide customers with a full range of professional services including special leasing and finance plans, corporate sales programs, road assistance plans and a wide variety of body conversions.

April 17, 2008 -- The 2008 Volvo XC70 has been voted Car of the Year in Russia - again. For the second time in three years, Volvo Car's image-booster has taken first prize in the "Estate Car with Off-Road Capability" category. The Car of the Year award in the world's largest country is a true people's competition. A total of 104,722 people voted in 19 different categories this year, the eighth time the competition has been held.

2008 Volvo S80, 2008 Volvo XC70 and 2008 Volvo C30 in Moscow.

In the crossover category, the Volvo XC70 won ahead of the Audi All Road Quattro and Subaru Legacy Outback. Anouk Poelmann, sales and marketing director of Volvo Car Russia received the award.

The 12th Moscow International Automobile Exhibition (Motor Show) has been considered to be an important event of the automotive industry. Unlike many other auto exhibitions held in Moscow, Motor Show is the only one trade event aimed at specialists.

Dates:
26-27 August - Press days
27 August - Opening Ceremony
28 August - Trade day
29 August - 1 September - Open to public

Opening Times:
All days - 10:00 - 18:00

Organizer:
Association of Automakers (OAR)

Location:
Moscow, Crocus Expo IEC Pavilion 1, Halls 1,2,3,4
Pavilion 2, Hall 11 Outdoor areas

Website: http://www.mims.ru

February 29, 2008, Moscow, Russia -- Serguey Chemezov, Head of Russian Technologies, Chairman of the Board of AvtoVAZ, Anatoli Issaïkine, Head of Rossoboronexport, Boris Alyoshin, President of AvtoVAZ, Ruben Vardanian, President of Troika Dialog Group Limited, Serguei Skvortsov, President of Troika Capital Partners representing Troika Dialog Investments Limited and Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Renault signed several agreements confirming the strategic partnership between AvtoVAZ and Renault.

• Renault will invest 1 billion US dollars for 25% + 1 share of AvtoVAZ’s shares*.
• These agreements, which ensure the implementation of the strategic partnership announced on December 8, 2007 would allow AvtoVAZ and Renault to:

Ready for Russia

St. Petersburg, Russia, February 18, 2008 – Production of the new generation Ford Focus got underway today at the Ford plant in St. Petersburg.

Highlights:
* Over 20,000 orders already received for the new car from Russian customers
* Leningrad region governor drives first car from the production line
* 250,000th Ford Focus sold in Russia presented to its new owner

The first car in the new series was driven off the production line by Valery Serdyukov, Governor of Leningrad region and Jim Tetreault, vice-president manufacturing, Ford of Europe.

Previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in mid-September last year, the new Focus has clearly caught the imagination of the Russian public, with around 20,000 customers ordering a car already.

January 17, 2008 -- Dacia is preparing to carry out a service operation which will allow their customers to take advantage of the latest technical improvements carried out in their plants. This service call only concerns models of Logan Saloon cars manufactured in Romania and Russia up until the end of 2006.

This operation (an additional injection of protective wax) is to allow customers to take advantage of technical breakthroughs free of charge, in order to improve their vehicles' protection, especially against climatic attacks.

23.01.2008 -- After-sale service is one of the important issues in Great Wall Motor (GWM) overseas market developing strategy, by now GWM has already established more than 400 maintenance centers in abroad and its service radius is within 300 km in large quantity region. In order to inspirit the persistent improvement of service level in overseas service network and to encourage the advanced, Great Wall Motor Company Limited invested hundreds of thousands of US Dollars in plan and implement of “the 1st GWM outstanding overseas service providers selection campaign”.

Joint venture provides global support for Korean automaker

AURORA, ON, Jan. 16, 2008 /PRNewswire - FirstCall/ - Cosma International, an operating unit of Magna International Inc. and a leading global automotive metalforming supplier, and its joint-venture partner Shin Young Metal Ind. Co., a Korea-based automotive supplier, today announced a major new-business award from Hyundai Motor Corporation.

Cosma and Shin Young Metal will supply major stampings and welded assemblies to Hyundai's new assembly plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, which, is expected to be operational in 2010. Cosma and Shin Young Metal will supply Hyundai from a greenfield manufacturing facility to be built in close proximity to the Hyundai assembly plant.

2008-01-09, Zurich -- General Motors (GM) sets all-time sales record in Europe in 2007, with 2,182,000* vehicles, up 179,000 units or 8.9 percent from 2006. The resultant market share of 9.5 percent constitutes a growth of 0.3 point. It is the highest market share for the group since 1999. In the forth quarter of 2007, GM sold a record 528,723 cars and LCVs in Europe, 53,900 vehicles or 11.3 percent above the same period in 2006.

Hightlights:
* GM sets all-time record with sales of 2,182,000 units in Europe, market share up to 9.5 percent
* GM records highest volume gain in European auto industry, with 179,000 units above 2006
* GM doubles sales in Russia, with market share up to 9.6 percent

2008-01-10, DETROIT – GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced today that Chris Gubbey, currently chairman and managing director, GM Holden Ltd., will be appointed GM Europe vice president and managing director, GM Russia and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), effective February 1. Chris Gubbey, 51, succeeds Warren P. Browne, 56, who assumes a new role as executive director, GM Europe business development, where he will lead GM’s growth strategy for Turkey.

“Russia is quickly becoming one of the largest car markets in the world, and GM achieved the number one position among non-domestic manufacturers with sales of more than 250,000 units,” said Wagoner. “In his new role, Gubbey will continue to drive our expansion in this vital high growth market.”

Dec. 2007 -- ZF is focusing on growth and expects sales in Eastern European to increase by 10 percent. The aim is to gain access to the markets in the East. Any company interested in doing business with Eastern European vehicle manufacturers needs to have a local presence in these countries. All of the major volume manufacturers have developed production capacities in the East, and all ZF competitors have established themselves here. Without a presence in Eastern Europe, ZF could runs the risk of being driven out of the market in Western Europe by low-cost suppliers from Eastern Europe. The same applies to Japanese and Korean vehicle manufacturers who have been joined in Eastern Europe by their Asian suppliers. ZF wants to get in on the action as a partner for Asian manufacturers.

Winterkorn and Naryshkin inaugurate new plant in Kaluga

Wolfsburg/Kaluga, 28 November 2007 - The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Naryshkin, and the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Prof. Martin Winterkorn, were joined by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SkodaAuto, Reinhard Jung, and Prof. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft with responsibility of ‘Group Production’, to inaugurate the new Volkswagen plant in Kaluga, Russia, on Wednesday.

Volkswagen brand planning earmarks 9.5 billion euros for investment until 2010

Wolfsburg, 27 November 2007 - “Over the next three years the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand will be investing 9.5 billion euros,” Prof. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, announced. 6.5 billion euros will be invested in new products. Some 1.7 billion are earmarked for new production structures such as new plants in Russia and India, together with a third assembly line and the press shop in Wolfsburg and the paintshop in Pamplona.