The Volkswagen Group has engineered an exit from Russia, following within the footsteps of Renault, Ford and Mercedes-Benz.

In a press release issued late final week, Volkswagen stated it had gained Russian authorities approval for the sale of its “manufacturing services in Kaluga, the importer construction (distribution and after-sales enterprise) and the warehousing and monetary providers actions with all its related staff” to an organization often known as Artwork-Finance, which is backed by Avilon, a Russian automotive dealership community.

Whereas lots of its rivals bought their companies to native buyers for a token rouble ($0.02), albeit with buyback clauses, sources instructed Reuters Artwork-Finance and Avilon have paid €125 million ($203 million) for Volkswagen’s Russian belongings.

It’s unclear whether or not Volkswagen’s sale features a buyback provision, nor do we all know what automobiles Artwork-Finance plans to provide and distribute.

At its peak, Volkswagen’s Kaluga manufacturing unit had an annual manufacturing capability of 225,000 automobiles, and employed over 4000 folks.

It produced a variety of automobiles for the Volkswagen and Skoda manufacturers, together with a novel Polo liftback primarily based on the Skoda Fast.

The manufacturing unit has been largely dormant since March 2022, not lengthy after Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia was then hit with sanctions and reduce off from the worldwide banking system, breaking vital provide chains and limiting demand.

Along with Kaluga, Volkswagen Group automobiles had been additionally produced in Nizhny Novgorod at a manufacturing unit operated by native automaker GAZ. The German automaker suspended contract manufacturing at Nizhny Novgorod after the Russian invasion.

Lada — previously owned by Renault, however now a part of Russia’s Central Analysis and Growth Car and Engine Institute (NAMI) — managed to restart manufacturing in mid-2022, however it needed to pass over options, equivalent to airbags, infotainment, ABS, and air-con.

With native new manufacturing working at a fraction of its pre-war days, stories point out Russians are turning to Chinese language new automobiles, in addition to used imports.