- Launch of second shift at Nissan St. Petersburg Plant announced during meeting with Russian President at the INNOPROM Fair in Yekaterinburg
- Recruitment under way for 450 new jobs to meet forecasted market growth
July 10th, 2017, Yekaterinburg, Russia – Nissan has announced the launch of a second shift at its manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, reflecting the positive growth outlook for the country’s car market.
Recruitment of 450 new employees and a forecasted improvement in the Russian market this year was outlined today to V.V. Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, at the International Industrial Fair INNOPROM.
The Russian President was greeted at the Nissan stand by Hitoshi Kawaguchi, Nissan Senior Vice-President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Paul Willcox, Nissan Europe Chairman, and James Wright, Vice President of Nissan Europe East.
The forecasted improvement of the Russian market this year will see the second shift added in St. Petersburg from October, providing opportunities for new recruits, returning employees and promotions for current team members.
In 2017, there have been signs of a revival of the Russian car market, with vehicles sales in Russian showing a positive trend since March. Overall market growth of 9.4% was recorded in March, 6.9% in April, 14.7% in May and in June – 15%. Nissan sales in Russia have followed this trend, increasing in April, May and June by 11%, 7% and 15% respectively.
Paul Willcox, Chairman, Nissan Europe, said: “Russia has always been and remains a key strategic market for Nissan. Our goal remains to develop local production, increase the level of parts localisation and expand export projects.
“This year we expect to increase production in St. Petersburg by nearly a quarter, compared to last year, where the Nissan team continue to make a strong contribution to our business.”
Last year the Nissan plant in St. Petersburg celebrated its tenth anniversary and production of the 250,000th vehicle. In 2016, more than 36,458 units rolled off the production line of the plant, an increase of 8% from 2015. This result is due to the launch of production of two significant models, the Nissan Qashqai (November 2015) and new generation Nissan Murano (June 2016). In 2016, a total of 79,066 Nissan vehicles were manufactured in Russia, exporting to the Republic of Kazakstan, the Republic of Belarus, Lebanon (from June 2016, Datsun only) and Azerbaijan (from November 2016).
As the world leader in electric vehicles (EVs), Nissan is continuing to study the market conditions and infrastructure development in Russia, with the ambition of introducing the Nissan LEAF, the world’s best-selling EV, to the country.
At the International Industrial Fair INNOPROM held on July 10-13 in Yekaterinburg, Nissan demonstrated its new Murano, a flagship of Nissan’s innovative crossover range, which symbolizes Nissan's design-led innovations, advanced technologies and high level of comfort for the driver and passengers.
ENDS
About the Nissan Murano
The new Murano, manufactured in St. Petersburg since 2016, was the first Nissan product equipped with ERA-GLONASS. The Nissan Murano is available now in Russia in two versions: with a well-known 3.5-liter petrol engine (249 HP and 325 Nm of torque) and a hybrid powertrain that combines 2.5-liter gasoline engine with compressor and 15 kW electric motor (254 HP / 368 Nm). Prior to its production in St. Petersburg, Nissan engineers made a series of modifications to ensure the Murano is more comfortable and tailored to Russian road and weather conditions, and fully adapted to the needs of Russian customers.
Nissan Group in Russia
Nissan has operated in Russia since 2004. Infiniti started operations in 2006. In the autumn of 2014 Datsun launched its sedan Datsun on-DO at the Russian market. Several months later Datsun mi-DO went on sale in the country. In CY 2016 Nissan Group sold in Russia 93 753 Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun cars. More than 36,000 of these were produced at the Nissan plant in St. Petersburg, with more than 40,000 produced by partner plants in Moscow, Togliatti and Izhevsk. The market share of Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun in Russia amounts to 6.5%. Russia is today one of few countries worldwide offering all three brands of the Nissan Group.
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