UPDATE: Min says Aurus can sell 5,000 cars per year in 7–8 years

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MOSCOW, Dec 25 (PRIME) -- The sales of Aurus luxury brand cars under the Kortezh project, which makes cars for high-ranking government officials, can reach 5,000 units per year in 7–8 years, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told PRIME on Tuesday.

“(We will proceed) to large-scale from exclusive sales in 2020. We will try to start in mid-2020 and to become popular by 2022 when the entire range is launched. Center NAMI will produce 200 cars (a year) in three shifts. We expect several thousand cars, about 5,000 cars per year in a span of 7–8 years,” Manturov said.

Large-scale assembly of the cars will be carried out on facilities of car maker Sollers in the Tatarstan Republic, in the Alabuga special economic zone, he said.

Manturov later told channel Rossiya 24 that special cars for the Federal Guard Service (FSO) will still be made by research bureau NAMI, and it will manufacture about 150–200 cars per year.

He also said that the United Arab Emirates will not only become a market for the Aurus cars, but a country that can assemble some of the models. Company Tawazun has become a participant of the project.

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