Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Feb. 25 /. Trend D.Azizov /
In 2014, Uzbekistan will transfer production of Damas cars from the main area of the GM Uzbekistan plant to the Andijan province in the Khorezm region (western Uzbekistan) , a source close to the project told Trend on Monday with reference to the decree of the head of state.
According to the source, the production of Damas cars will be organised based on the Khorezm Automobile Association. The total project cost is $49 million.
According to the decree, the state's share in the authorised capital of the Khorezm Automobile Association Ltd will be transferred as the state's contribution to the authorised capital of Uzavtosanoat JSC which will pass part of the Khorezm automobile association's areas to GM Uzbekistan JV on a long term lease.
The project will be implemented in two stages. Within the first phase, in the first quarter of 2014 it is planned to create a facility for assembly of Damas cars. At the second stage in the fourth quarter of 2014, full scale production will be launched at the enterprise.
It is planned to annually produce up to 40,000 Damas cars at the new production facilities.
GM Uzbekistan produced 24.597 Damas cars in 2012, or 21.8 per cent more than in 2011.
The project is financed from the equity of Uzavtosanoat JSC (Uzavtoprom), which includes the automotive industry facilities in Uzbekistan.
It is assumed that the released production area of the GM Uzbekistan automobile plant, located in the Andijan province, will be used for the production of new car models.
In 2010, Uzavtoprom transferred production of the large hub assembly of Captiva and Malibu cars to the territory of Tashkent Production Association named after Chkalov from the Andijan province.
Uzavtoprom and General Motors signed an agreement to create the GM Uzbekistan joint venture based on the previous UzDaewooAuto plant in October 2007. GM has a 25 per cent stake plus one share in the company with an option to increase its stake to 40 per cent. Some 75 per cent of the shares belong to Uzavtoprom JSC.
Currently, GM Uzbekistan produces eight models of cars. Of them two models are produced under the Chevrolet brand (Captiva and Malibu) based on the technology of a large hub assembly. The rest are produced within full-scale production.
In 2012, GM Uzbekistan increased car production by 6.4 per cent up to 235.518 units.
