The Zaporizhia automobile manufacturing plant (ZAZ), which is part of the UkrAVTO Corporation, is launching production of Groupe Renault cars for the local market at its manufacturing facilities.
The corporation announced on Thursday that ZAZ underwent large-scale modernization before the launch of the project in order to comply fully with Groupe Renault’s international quality standards and that the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance quality standardization system (the Alliance Production Way) has been deployed at the plant, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
"The Ukrainian market has a high potential for us due to its location and the growing interest in new cars. Groupe Renault has a strong position in Ukraine and maintains its leadership in the market. This project means that we and our partners are confident that ‘Made in Ukraine’ brands will be at the same quality level as the products of Groupe Renault’s other plants," ZAZ quoted Groupe Renault Export’s Managing Director (Eurasia Region) Max Missana as saying.
According to the Zaporizhia automobile manufacturing plant’s Board Chairman Mykola Yevdokimenko, localization of assembly of Groupe Renault’s cars at the plant will allow the company to be in close proximity to its customers and adapt its offers and services to the needs of the market.
The Interfax Ukraine news agency asked the plant to clarify the car models that it plans to produce, but the plant promised to provide all the details of the project later. As reported previously, the French carmaker has performed a quality audit of the car assembly line at the Zaporizhia automobile manufacturing plant. Several Lada cars, namely the Vesta, Xray, and Largus models, were produced during a test car assembly on the ZAZ line.
Groupe Renault (France) is a member of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
ZAZ is the largest car manufacturing plant in Ukraine. Due to economic inexpediency and the absence of government programs for stimulating the automotive industry, the plant stopped producing cars in 2018 despite being the leading car manufacturer in the country for many years.
According to the Ukravtoprom association of automobile manufacturers, ZAZ produced only 26 buses in the period of January-July 2020 (compared with 40 buses and 7 commercial vehicles in the corresponding period of 2019).
