The former Nissan plant in St. Petersburg, which was transferred to AvtoVAZ in 2023, has returned to state ownership. Vice President for Sales and Marketing of the automaker Dmitry Kostromin announced this at a conference of the analytical agency Autostat, reports RBC The 14th of February.
“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,” Kostromin is quoted as saying.
According to the publication's source, the plant returned to the ownership of the state automobile and motor vehicle institute NAMI, subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In 2022, NAMI bought the plant from Nissan for a symbolic price with a buyback option within 6 years, the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported.
Now the ex-Nissan plant is called “Avtozavod St. Petersburg”. On January 30, he announced the launch of a new car brand, XCITE, on the Russian market. The plant has already produced the first batch of several thousand XCITE cars. The company will also launch production of a number of models at its facilities in close cooperation with international partners, the company said.
On February 1, the Autostat agency, citing the press service of the enterprise, reported that Avtozavod St. Petersburg plans to disclose information about the first XCITE model, including its name and characteristics, at the end of February. Photos of the new product will be published at the same time.
On February 12, Autonews.ru published photographs of the plant’s territory and reported that several hundred Chery Tiggo 7 Pro cars were parked on the territory of the plant, where Nissan cars were produced until 2022. It is assumed that the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro crossover with other nameplates will become the first model of the new XCITE brand.
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