The German car group Mercedes-Benz will sell its assets in Russia to a local investor, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade announced on Wednesday, amid an offensive in Ukraine and Western sanctions.
“Mercedes-Benz will sell its shares in its Russian subsidiaries to a local investor”, the Russian company AVTODOM, the ministry said in a statement.
“The new owner of the Russian subsidiaries of Mercedes-Benz, the company AVTODOM, will be able to attract other companies as partners to organize joint manufacturing” of cars in the Mercedes plant in Yessipovo, inaugurated in 2019 and located about fifty kilometers from Moscow, according to the same source.
“Mercedes-Benz will leave the Russian market,” the German group confirmed in a statement.
Among the “main priorities” of Mercedes-Benz when concluding the agreement with AVTODOM included in particular the maintenance of jobs in the Russian subsidiaries, specified the general manager of Mercedes-Benz-RUS, Natalia Koroliova, quoted in the press release. from the car manufacturer.
After the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24 and the introduction of economic sanctions, many large Western companies and brands left Russia, for ethical reasons or because of the difficulties in continuing their activities there.
To see in video