Following a decision taken in 2013, the first RAV4 has rolled off the assembly line at the brand’s plant in Saint Petersburg, Russia, earlier in the week.
This is the second Toyota model produced at this facility, after the Camry, which has been put together at the plant since 2007, and it’s aimed towards the Russian, Belarus and Kazakh markets.
“Thorough preparation for the second model launch was carried out over the past three years, and today we are pleased to announce the beginning of a new phase in the life of our plant, as well as to offer a Toyota RAV4 of very high quality to our customers“, commented Yoshinori Matsunaga, Executive Manufacturing Director of Toyota Motor LLC.
In preparation for the start of production of the RAV4, Toyota’s plant in Saint Petersburg received a 9.7 billion RUR ($150 million) injection at the end of 2015, during which production capacity was increased from 50,000 to 100,000 vehicles annually. Recruitment of new employees is ongoing and as production volumes will increase gradually over the next few months, an additional 800 new jobs will be created.
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