The joint venture between Iveco, a company of Fiat Group, and the industrial group Samotlor-NN, one of the major Russian bodybuilders, established in June, enters now its operational phase with Saveco, 51% owned by Iveco, for the production in Russia of the Daily, the light commercial vehicle of the Iveco range, in particular those used for the transport of goods, minibuses and ambulances.
Today the building of the new Saveco plant have started, in Semonov, Nizhniy Novgorod region. The maximum production capacity in the medium term will be 25,000 units per year of the Daily, a vehicle up to 6,5 tonne of gross vehicle weight. Around 70% of the production will be 5 ton vehicles, and heavier, thus complementing the current offer by local manufacturers with no overlapping.
The Chief Executive Officer of Iveco, Paolo Monferino, gave the green light to the construction site in Semenov today, together with Mr. Valery Pavlinovic Shanzev, Governor of Nizhny Novgorod, during a ceremony attended by representatives of local authorities and a pretty extensive number of local and European media.
“The implementation of this joint venture reconfirms the strong commitment of Iveco – as well as of Fiat Group – to invest in Russia: we do believe that part of our future as a global player has to be built up here. Saveco activities will result in transfer of know-how and excellent technologies for the benefit of the joint venture as a whole, besides creating about 2,500 new jobs locally”, Mr Monferino stated.