BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 2. Uzbekistan’s UzAuto Motors and Azerbaijan's Azermash vehicle production plant are looking to increase joint manufacturing of Chevrolet cars, press secretary of Uzavtosanoat JSC Zumrad Shadjalilova told Trend.
According to Shadjalilova, UzAuto jointly with Azermash launched SKD (semi-knocked-down) production of Chevrolet cars in Azerbaijan’s Hajigabul region, on September 17, 2021.
"Since 2021, about 2,700 units of Chevrolet cars have been produced in Azerbaijan. This year car manufacturers of both countries have set the task of increasing production up to 5,000 cars by transferring from SKD to full production cycle", she noted.
Shahdjalilova emphasized that the full production cycle will include localization of the assembly of automotive components such as dashboards, exhaust systems, chassis components, etc.
Furthermore, she added that in the nearest future, the Uzbek car manufacturer plans to launch the production of the new model Chevrolet cars in Azerbaijan.
"UzAvto motors, in 2023 have started to produce new Chevrolet Onix cars. The car manufacturer plans to produce more than 50,000 units of that car in 2023. By the end of March, Uzbekistan plans to launch production of the Chevrolet Onix cars at the Azermash plant by semi-knocked-down production method," Shahdjalilova noted.
Meanwhile, previously, a source in the Uzbek Presidential Administration told Trend that the country, in cooperation with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, is looking to establish a 'Turkic Auto Industry conglomerate'.
The conglomerate idea involves the establishment of cooperation between UzAuto Motors, the Azermash vehicle production plant, and Saryarka AvtoProm LLP, the largest automobile manufacturing enterprise in Kazakhstan.
The idea to establish a conglomerate is based on strong ties in the machine-building of the three countries. For example, back in June 2022, a Memorandum between Azermash OJSC and UzAvtoSanoat JSC on localization of car production in Azerbaijan was signed by the Chairman of the Board at Azermash Emin Akhundov and Deputy Chairman of UzAvtoSanoat Sardor Tadjiyev.