GM sees first Russian-built SUVs

[MaineDem]

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. <GM.N> will make 25,000 cars a year from 2008 at a new factory it will build in St Petersburg as it targets Russia's booming car market, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

The new plant, costing over $100 million, will assemble GM's Chevrolet Captiva sport utility vehicles at the plant in Russia's second city, General Motors' Europe President Carl-Peter Forster told reporters ahead of a ceremony.

Before then, GM will launch assembly of the Captiva at a separate facility here, with the first cars coming off the production line this September. Output will reach 1,000 units in 2006, rising to between 4,000 and 5,000 annually. The temporary plant will close when the bigger facility is up and running.

...

Forster denied that GM would shift production from its western European plants to low-cost eastern Europe, saying the company was producing different models for different markets.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/06/13/gm_sees_first_russian_built_suvs/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

[leveymg]

1. The Russians have been making SUVs for a long time. Photo.

[Benhurst]

2. A "Captiva." What a wonderful name for a car in

Crazy Joe Stalin's former slave state.

[saigon68]

3. WOW a "Captiva" driven by former "Captives"

Nice touch

</sarcasm>

[CatholicEdHead]

4. Captiva sees to be a smaller car-based SUV

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Captiva

It appears to be the same size market as the Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4. It is just a Korean Daewoo designed car with a GM badge on it.