Lada maker facing bankruptcy

[justjohn]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7962674.stm


Russia's largest manufacturer of cars, Avtovaz, could have to file for bankruptcy because of a collapse in sales and massive debts.

The company has already shed more than 25,000 of its 100,000-strong workforce to try to keep afloat.

But PM Vladimir Putin says the car maker, which is virtually the only employer in its hometown, is too important to be allowed to collapse.






Russia's biggest car maker Lada is on the verge of collapse, and the government is considering whether to rescue it.

Rupert Wingfield Hayes reports from Tolyatti in Central Russia, which owes its very existence to the Lada business.

[Eric]

I don't think AvtoVAZ will be allowed to go bankrupt, but the manufacturer certainly needs to make some operating changes. Since the end of the USSR, anyone can buy a car from anywhere, and such an enormous manufacturing base that AvtoVAZ has is certainly no longer necessary.

That said, Toliatti is, as the article says, almost entirely dependant on AvtoVAZ, so any changes are likely to be very unpleasant.