Peugeot-Citroen-Mitsubishi opens Kaluga plant

The Peugeot-Citroen-Mitsubishi group has officially opened a production factory in the Kaluga region with a 125 thousand cars a year expected to be produced.

The plant is set to produce five models, including the Peugeot 308 and 4007, Citroen C4, Citroen C-Crosser and the Mitsubishi Outlander XL. For 2010, the roughly $407 million factory will produce 25 thousand vehicles, with full scale production slated to start in 2012.

PSA Peugeot Citroen Chairman, Philippe Varin, said that initially the company planned on producing 168 thousand cars a year but had to adjust production figures due to the crisis.

Varin said that the price on the Peugeot 308 which will be the first car to be produced at the plant, will see a price reduction so that the car could participate in to the Russian clash for clunkers program.

Mitsubishi Motors board of directors chairman, Takashi Nishioka, said the Kaluga facility would prove to be a major component of his company’s activity in Russia.

“Production here will allow us to benefit. I hope that it will become a cornerstone of the alliance for the long and medium term.”

Nishioka said there would be no changes to prices for their sport utility vehicles, the Citroen C-Crosser and Mitsubishi Outlander XL.

“We are not planning to lower prices because of local production.”

Anatoly Artamonov, governor of the Kaluga region, said that he expects that companies will follow Peugeot’s example and increasingly come to Russia, in particular, the Kaluga region.

“Many are already organizing their production.”