The General Motors plant in St. Petersburg worked with interruptions last year. And it has become known recently that in spring 2015, the production line will be halted again: according to GM officials the break will last from March 23 till May 15. There is only one reason for it – slowdown in new car sales and collapse of the Russian ruble.
The prices for the Opel and Chevrolet models increased by 50-60 percent and it put a severe strain on the General Motors state at the Russian market: the total sales of the company in Russia fell by 26 percent last year. For example, the most popular Chevrolet Cruze costs from 913 000 rubles now, though last autumn its initial price was about 500-600 thousand rubles.
The intended capacity of the General Motors plant is about 60 thousand vehicles a year. Initially, they manufactured only the Chevrolet Captiva and the Opel Antara crossovers, and later added the Chevrolet Cruze and the Opel Astra J models. In late 2014, the General Motors Company announced its plans to produce the Chevrolet Tahoe and the Cadillac Escalade in St. Petersburg.
