Toyota said that after six months, it has not been able to resume normal activities at its plant in St. Petersburg and sees no indication that the plant can be restarted in the future.
The Japanese automotive giant will restructure its activities in Moscow to become more efficient. The company will continue to support the retail network in serving existing Toyota and Lexus customers in Russia.
The Toyota plant in St. Petersburg was opened in 2007. From the very beginning, the company organized full-cycle production of the Toyota Camry sedan, which is very in Russia. In 2016 the production of the second model, the Toyota RAV4 crossover, began. It has a capacity of 100,000 units a year.
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the Toyota plant might be sold in the future.
Many factories in Russia have suspended production and furloughed workers due to shortages of high-tech equipment because of sanctions and an exodus of Western manufacturers since Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz did so, and Renault sold its stake in AvtoVAZ to the Russian government.
Source: Toyota