The French company Renault announced for the auto industry On Wednesday night it intends to suspend “activities at the Renault Moscow plant” with immediate effect. However, the lion’s share of the group’s Russian presence goes through its subsidiary AutoVaz, through which it sold nearly 500,000 cars in Russia in 2021.
Renault said AutoVaz would not withdraw immediately, but was “evaluating the options available, taking into account the current environment and acting responsibly towards its 45,000 employees in Russia”.
This move came hours after a conversation Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the French Parliament, calling on Renault and other French companies with a Russian presence to stop indirectly supporting the war on Ukraine.
Renault Group’s board of directors met on Wednesday for a decision stop production At the plant that produces the Arkana, Captur, Duster and Nissan Terrano SUVs, amid growing criticism of the company’s foothold in the Russian Federation.
AutoVaz, the largest car maker in Russia, is part of the Renault-Nissan group, in which the French company owns a 69 percent stake.
The company invested in AutoVaz alongside Rostec, a state-owned defense conglomerate run by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The Renault group should revise its financial forecast for 2022 with a group operating margin of about 3 percent, compared to at least 4 percent previously,” the company said.
“Renault refuses to withdraw from Russia. I call on customers and companies around the world to boycott the Renault group,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter before the Renault announcement.
Following Renault’s announcement, Kuleba tweeted that he welcomed “Renault’s statement on halting industrial activities in Russia”. “Responsible action against the backdrop of the ongoing barbaric Russian aggression against Ukraine,” he wrote.
State-owned Renault partially halted production at its plants near Moscow last month after the Russian invasion, but later resumed production, according to reports.
Western automakers have entered Russia to assemble cars over the past two decades as the country’s economy expanded.
(AFP, The New Arab)