Italian car-maker Fiat and the Russian car factory Sollers have entered a joint venture to produce half a million cars per year, dpa quoted the news agency Interfax as reporting today. The contract, signed in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, includes an agreement to produce nine new models. Sollers, based in the republic of Tatarstan, would after the deal be the second biggest car manufacturer in Russia behind Lada-maker Avtovaz. The planned investment is thought to be some 2.4 billion euros (3.3 billion dollars). Putin announced state aid in the from of a 15-year, 2.1 billion euro loan. Sollers and Fiat will have an equal share in the venture. They have not excluded the possibility of a bank becoming a minor partner. In the first phase of the venture, 300,000 cars per year are due to roll off production lines, which will be upped to half a million from 2015. Putin said that for the purchase of new equipment in Italy alone, a billion euros had been put aside. The company would receive an additional one-hundred-million-euro injection of cash, he added. At least 50 per cent of the car parts are to be produced in Russia. Sollers, which changed its name from Severstal-Avto in 2008, was founded in 2002. The company has several car factories in the Volga region and in the far-east of Russia. Its biggest shareholder is its general director Vadim Shvetsov.
