MUNICH, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 15 car producers worldwide, including German ones, have decided to launch production lines in Russia, the country's president said Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Munich Wednesday on the second day of his working visit to Germany to hold talks with Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber on a variety of political and economic issues. He was also scheduled to meet with local business and social representatives.
"As many as 15 world carmakers have announced their desire to work in Russia. Many of them have started building plants, and I am very glad that German companies are among them," Putin said.
A number of foreign companies, including giants such as America's Ford Motor Company, Germany's Volkswagen and Japan's Toyota, have in the past few years either already opened or are planning to open plants in Russia.
And Putin highlighted that Volkswagen has decided to launch the construction of a motor plant in the Kaluga Region southwest of Moscow in late October.
With foreign automakers starting to produce moderately priced vehicles, ordinary Russians are increasingly taking them out of the showroom in preference to similarly priced domestic models, which are not always seen as being wholly reliable.
According to the economics ministry's figures for the first half of the year, Russian cars still lead the market, with a 42.9% share (48% a year ago), followed by new foreign cars with 33.8% (26%), Russian-made foreign cars with 12% (9%), and used foreign cars with 11.3% (17%).
Putin also assured German businessmen that Russia will create favorable conditions for investment.
Volkswagen said last week it has increased its sales on the Russian market by 66.2%, year-on-year, between January and September 2006. Car sales increased by 65%, to 13,589, and trucks by 73%, to 2,316.The most popular models are the Passat B6 (4,238 cars), the Touareg (3,339) and the Golf (1,914).
