PSA Peugeot-Citroën has signed an agreement with Agromash Holding for the assembly and distribution of the passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Kazakhstan. Agromash Holding is one of Kazakhstan’s largest producers of vehicles and agricultural equipment.
According to the agreement, Agromash will start building the vehicles this coming June and these will include Peugeot 301, 3008 and 508 passenger cars, as well as Peugeot Partner vans. The vehicles will be assembled at Agromash’s plant in Kostanay from semi-knockdown kits shipped from PSA’s plants in France, and from Spain for the 301 model.
Production capacity is targeted to start at 4,000 units per year with a view to achieving sales of more than 10,000 units per year.
Along with locally assembled models, Peugeot will ship the Peugeot 408 as a finished vehicle from its Russian plant in Kaluga for sales in Kazakhstan.
Distribution will be managed by Agromash’s main shareholder, AllurGroup but PSA could not name the logistics service providers handling transport of the vehicles to the dealerships.
A spokesperson for PSA said that two new outlets will be in operation from the start of production, one in Astana and one in Almaty, which between them will cover 45% of the market. They will carry the Blue Box brand, the new name of Peugeot’s outlets and dealerships.
In addition two private dealerships will complement the network. AllurGroup plans to open two more branches in 2014 to cover 65% of the market.
“This project in Kazakhstan is an important milestone for PSA Peugeot Citroën business development in the region of Commonwealth of Independent States, which is one the priority zones for our group, along with Asia and Latin America,” said Bernd Schantz, PSA Peugeot Citroën managing director for Russia, Ukraine and CIS.
“It will contribute to our growing and diversified presence in the region, with a larger manufacturing base dedicated to our local subsidiaries-driven operations in Russia and Ukraine, and to our importers-based sales in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Moldova.”
The project is expected to provide employment for over 300 people in France and 150 in Kazakhstan.
