GM will resume the normal operation in Russia only with the "stability" in the country
OREANDA-NEWS. The US carmaker General Motors will resume normal operation in Russia, when the country will become stable, said the CFO of GM, Chuck Stevens.
"Fundamentally, it all comes down to this: when the ruble moves from 50 to 70 (per dollar), you must set the price to compensate it. Do you set the price every day? Do you set the price each hour? Do you set the price once a week? We wanted to see some stability, "- said in an interview Mr.Stivens in the interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Chief Financial Officer GM underlined that the company did not go away from Russia. "In recent weeks, volatility has increased and it has prompted us to suspend the work" – “Gazeta.Ru” cited the words of Mr.Stivens. – “Obviously, the risk profile in Russia has grown”.
In addition, he noted that in the short term GM focuses on the reduction of exposure of the company to risks and in the medium term, the company intends to provide work of business model, in which the company will be able to function effectively in the existing conditions. According to the CFO of GM, it is too early to talk about what are the long-term prospects in Russia.
As it was reported previously, due to the ongoing decline of the Russian car market, St.Petersburg GM plant reduces the production plans for 2015 and it decided to suspend the assembly line from March 23rd to May 15th. However, it does not apply to shop of SKD assembly, who will continue to work as usual. In 2015, the company will start the assembly of SUV Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade of new generation, as well as Chevrolet Captiva, which was produced previously at the facilities of "Avtotor."
Recall that at the end of 2014 St. Petersburg General Motors plant produced 36,708 cars – it is less by 45.3% than a year before. It should be noted that due to the fall in demand in the Russian market in March of the last year, the company moved from three shifts to two shifts of production, and in October – it is working in one shift, which led to a reduction of 500 employees. In this case, GM-Auto continued the practice that it begun in February of periodic downtime of assembly line to bring the production volumes into line with the declining market demand. Meanwhile, last autumn, the assembly of cars Cadillac CTS, SRX and ATS was moved from Kaliningrad enterprise "Avtotor" to GM plant in St. Petersburg.
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