Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, one of the richest people in Russia, has said he will build a hybrid-fuel car factory in the city where struggling Soviet-era automaker Avtovaz is based.
“The whole project has been approved. The prime minister (Vladimir Putin) has supported the proposal for a pilot factory (with a capacity of) 10,000 cars in Tolyatti,” the Ria Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.
The cars, which will be made by Yarovit-Motors, will be able to run on either petrol or liquefied natural gas. According to a spokesman for Yarovit, Prokhorov is to invest 150 million euros (206 million dollars) in the plant.
Construction is to begin early next year with the aim of starting production in mid-2012. Three models are planned: a truck, a standard car model and a sports car.
The Volga River city of Tolyatti, some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from Moscow, is the home of Avtovaz, Russia’s largest car maker, which is 25-percent owned by French car maker Renault.
The producer of the famed Lada was hit hard by the global economic crisis.
Prokhorov, who made his fortune in oil and metals, heads the Onexim investment fund and was ranked by Finans magazine last month as Russia’s second richest man after steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin.
