KALUGA, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inspected on Tuesday a Volkswagen plant in the Kaluga Region southwest of Moscow.
His visit came on the day that the German automaker launched the assembly of complete knock-down kits, including welding, painting and trimming. Putin arrived at the factory in a Volkswagen car.
He was met by VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and Volkswagen Group Rus general director Dietmar Korzekwa.
Winterkorn said Russia's car market would grow 30% by 2018 from 2008 to make Russia one of the top five car producing countries.
The company is one of sponsors of the 2014 Winter Olympics, due to take place in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"This means we will win the Sochi Olympic Games together," Putin said in German.
"We in Volkswagen are convinced that Russia is a car market of the future. We have already invested over 570 million euros [$850 million] in our Kaluga plant and firmly intend to continue investing in Russia's economy," Volkswagen said earlier in a statement.
Car production at the Kaluga plant began in the fall of 2007. In 2008 the plant produced over 60,000 cars, and the number exceeded 90,000 as of October 2009.
The plant produces VW Passat, Polo, Jetta, Tiguan, Touareg cars, as well as Skoda Fabia, Octavia, Octavia Tour and Superb cars. In July, it started producing Caddy and Transporter models, and plans to launch a semi-knocked down assembly of Audi A4, A5 and Q5 automobiles.
The Kaluga plant employs over 1,800 people, and the number of employees could reach 3,000 in 2010, when the plant is expected to reach its design capacity of 150,000 cars a year.
Volkwagen Group Rus also said the production of a special car made for the Russian market on the basis of the VW Polo would start in late May, with the car's approximate cost being 440,000 rubles ($15,000).
