You can’t blame automakers for abandoning facilities for in Russia. Things are pretty insane over there at the moment. China decided to seize this opportunity for its cars by moving into the abandoned plants and both countries are profiting. 

China moves into plants abandoned in Russia by three automakers 

The three automakers who decided to leave Russia due to a combination of sanctions and political pressure are Nissan, Mercedes, and Volkswagen. 

But China seems to still be best friends with Russia. It’s using this opportunity to move into the abandoned factories and set up shop. 

China is benefiting from these plants that are used for final assembly, meaning the vehicles are almost complete once they arrive. 

This makes the existing Nissan, Volkswagen, and Mercedes cars easy to quickly rebadge and sell. However, China is importing nearly finished cars and completing the assembly in Russian factories as well. 

According to Reuters, Chery is a Chinese brand that’s making some big bucks off of these production centers. It currently accounts for 50% of all new cars in Russia. 

Chery also controls 20% of the passenger car market. So, setting up shop for final assembly will only help it expand. 

Plus, Russia is toying with the idea of raising fees on imported vehicles giving Chery another advantage by allowing it to sidestep the extra charges. 

Russia approved safety and standard compliance for Chery to build models in Russia. The documents were approved between February and August. 

Since the automakers sold these plants in 2022, Chery has been on the rise. It sold 200,000 vehicles in 2023 and quadrupled its growth. Reportedly, Chery has already sold over 200,000 models so far in 2024. 

Demand exceeds what Chery is able to produce in the old Nissan factory. However, the old Volkswagen factory can produce 27,000 vehicles. It was idle for two years. The old Mercedes-Benz factory was sold in April 2023 and can pump out 25,000 models annually.