Cars of the premium brand Aurus may be assembled at the production facilities of the former Toyota plant in Shushary. Gazprom is interested in the project and intends to buy up to 40% of the stake, sources said. It is worth recalling that earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Denis Manturov, on the sidelines of the international exhibition-forum "Russia", already mentioned the joint work of the department and Gazprom on the development of the Aurus brand "in various directions".
Currently, the controlling stake in Aurus is owned by FSUE NAMI (63.5%), more than a third by the Arab fund Tawazun (36%), and a small share is held by Sollers (0.5%).
Serial assembly of Aurus has been carried out since 2021 in Yelabuga. The plant produces the Aurus Senat limousine and the Komendant SUV. Earlier, there was talk of plans to launch an armored off-road Komendant limousine in 2024. It is expected to be presented by the RIDA company from Nizhny Novgorod.
In 2023, Aurus increased sales, selling 115 units. Against this background, the company's management considered increasing production and expanding the model range. This was also mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, Aurus, in addition to limousines and sedans, will have jeeps and buses - the line will expand.
Andrey Pankov, General Director of Aurus LLC (since December 2022), headed the legal entity Shushary Avto (owner of the former Toyota plant in St. Petersburg) and the Severnaya Zvezda plant. Aurus has already posted vacancies for production personnel in the Northern capital. There are no official comments on the production of the brand's cars in St. Petersburg yet.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, stated that Aurus will expand its model range. New cars will be more affordable.