1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
Now LDV's cooking with GAZ
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Leading Russian CV manufacturer GAZ has snapped up [DV from its US owners and the Russians have big plans. Julian Miines reports.
BIRMINGHAM-BASED van manufacturer LDV has been snapped up by Russian CV manufacturing giant GAZ for £50m, ending months of speculation.
This is the second buyout in less than a year for the West Midlands firm which was acquired by US venture capitalists Sun Capital in December last year following its collapse into administration.
GAZ says it plans to increase production at LDN7's Washwood Heath plant by expanding the product line-up and entering new markets in the EU and elsewhere.
GAZ is also going to start Maxus production at its plant in Nizhny Novgorod, opening up the Eastern European market. Erik Eberhardson, president of the GAZ Group says:-We believe the company has plenty of potential to succeed. The initial aim is to increase sales by 50% next year while also implementing a costsaving programme to reduce losses and return to profitability.
-There are key areas that have been identified for improvement such as quality and the production system, and these will be the priorities in the short term.
To oversee the operation GAZ has appointed Martin Leach, ii former president and CEO ol Ford Europe, as chairman. It is alsc establishing a UK-based company GAZ International, which will be briefed to identify international expansion opportunities.
Leach is keen to allay fears mei the long-term future of the Birmingham plant and the possibility of switching all production to Russia, where costs would be reduced "As long as the Birmingham plant is efficient there should be no problem maintaining production."
The firm's current van, the Maxus, which was launched in February 2005, has so far been a reasonable success. In the first half of thi year it outsold vans from biggei rivals in the 3.5-tonne sector such a5 Citroen and Volkswagen.
GAZ Group was founded ir 2005 following a restructuring o1 Ruspromavto's manufacturing assets. It is the largest Russian CA/ producer with sales of more thar $3.5bn in 2005.