UPDATE: Russia’s AvtoVAZ appoints Nicolas Maure as CEO

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MOSCOW/KOLOMNA, Moscow Region, Mar 15 (PRIME) -- Russian car producer AvtoVAZ has appointed Nicolas Maure, former CEO of Renault in Romania, as CEO, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Previous head of the company Bo Andersson resigned in February and will leave the post in early April. A spokesman for Renault said that owners of the Russian car producer expect the successor of Andersson to pull the company out of the crisis.

Car sales in Russia decreased 35.7% in 2015, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said. Sales of affordable AvtoVAZ cars decreased 31%.

In February, AvtoVAZ introduced a four-day workweek and, according to statements of the trade union, promised to cut salaries by 20%.

The government plans no special financial support for AvtoVAZ, apart from the incentives for the entire car industry. Joint support plans with Renault-Nissan, whose joint venture with state industrial corporation Rostec holds 74.51% in AvtoVAZ, can be discussed, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said.

Manturov also said that a focus on Russian car components will be the main goal of the new head of AvtoVAZ. “As regards the change of the AvtoVAZ chief, the main goal that must be set for the new head, as we think, is a focus on Russian suppliers of components in order to reduce cost of production as much as he can,” he said.

CEO of Lada Izhevsk, an AvtoVAZ affiliate, Mikhail Ryabov said at a forum that AvtoVAZ plans to increase exports to around 50,000 cars in 2016. The company’s total exports of Lada cars stood at around 30,000 units in 2015, he said.

“Around 50,000, actually everything will depend on many factors, but we understand that in this situation, amid falling domestic market, it is necessary to go into exports, that’s why we will do everything to sell as many cars abroad as possible,” Ryabov said.

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