AUTONEWS

The assembly of the Lada X-Cross 5 started in a festive setting

On orders from superiors, the St. Petersburg car factory, which until recently was owned by Nissan, but sold it for 1 ruble in November 2022 to the Russian state-owned NAMI automotive research institute, which then gave it to the Lada car factory, which in the meantime also became its owner, restarted production in just a few months. in February 2023. The model debuting here is the X-Cross 5, which is expected to be followed by further models taken over from Chinese manufacturers.

In the first instance, it is an exaggeration to even call the work done in St. Petersburg an assembly, since they just fill the cars sent from China with liquids, program the keys and engrave the chassis number into them; for now, even the branding on the radiator grille is just screwed onto the original. Later, Bestune will send less assembled cars, the goal is to assemble 10,000 cars this year, next year they want to restart the bodywork and painting plant, after which only parts/groups of parts will be delivered from China. The prices of the Lada X-Cross 5 are not yet known, but distribution in Russia will begin in the third quarter of this year.

by: Lővei Gergely