Volkswagen will interrupt production and export in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine

The German car group Volkswagen is going to stop car production and exports in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Volkswagen, which has 4,800 employees in Russia, reported that “Due to the Russian attack, the management of the consortium has decided to stop the production of cars in Russia until further notice.”.

Exports from Europe’s largest carmaker to the Russian Federation have also been halted with immediate effect.

The group VW halts production at the factories in Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, and in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, of its partner GAZ.

volkswagenwhich between 2006 and 2021 has invested 2 billion euros in Russia, began manufacturing vehicles for the Russian market in Kaluga, a factory with 4,000 employees, in November 2007.

The production of Kaluga, which produces the Tiguan and Polo, and the Skoda Rapid was in 2021 118,000 units.

In Kaluga Volkswagen also has an engine production plant, with a maximum annual capacity of 150,000 engines, in which it manufactures the EA211 series 1.6-litre petrol engine that is assembled in the VW Polo and Skoda Rapid, which is manufactured there as well, as well as in the Skoda Octavia, Skoda Karoq and VW Taos, which are produced in Nizhny Novgorod with GAZ.

At the end of 2012, the Group began producing under contract at the Nizhny Novgorod plant of its partner GAZ, a company of the Basic Element group, models of the VW and Skoda brands.

The VW Rus group had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kaluga region in June last year to produce the 1.4-liter TSI gasoline engine from 2024.

Also, the group stops car exports of its brands to Russia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also slowed down car production at other VW factories in Germany (in Zwickau, Wolfsburg or Hannover), due to a lack of components from Ukraine.

These factories already had problems before the invasion due to the shortage of semiconductors and the pandemic and had to apply ERTE.

The manufacturer of trucks and spare parts MAN, which is also part of the VW group, has also stopped exports to Russia and Belarus.

MAN has supply problems due to the war and has had to interrupt production in Munich (Germany) and Krakau (Poland) and in Saint Petersburg it has reduced it due to bottlenecks.

The sports car manufacturer Porsche, which is also owned by the Volkswagen group, has stopped production until the end of the week in Leipzig (eastern Germany), where it manufactures the Macan and the Panamera and has requested an ERTE for its employees.

The energy company Siemens Energy has paralyzed its business and exports with Russia and its Siemens parent company as well, although it maintains local maintenance services for trains supplied years ago.