Following three years of construction, the Volkswagen Group has inaugurated its new engine plant at Kaluga. In future, the plant will produce the newly developed 1.6-litre EA211 gasoline engine, representing the most modern engine technology of the Volkswagen Group.

The engines are to be used for the Volkswagen Polo and the ŠKODA Rapid produced in Kaluga, as well as for the Volkswagen Jetta and the ŠKODA Octavia and Yeti, built jointly with GAZ in Nizhny Novgorod.

The annual production capacity of the engine plant will be about 150,000 units. The total investment in the plant has been about €250 million and 400 jobs in the region have been created. Volkswagen is the first foreign automaker to operate its own engine plant in Russia.

Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand responsible for Components, underlined the commitment of Volkswagen to Russia: "The development of Volkswagen in Kaluga - starting with the vehicle plant and continuing with the engine plant - symbolizes the strength of this region. We intend to continue this development in future because we believe in the considerable potential offered by the Russian automobile industry."

"With our new, modern engine plant, we will be supplying engines produced locally for our vehicles manufactured in Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod. We will therefore not only be increasing the local content of our cars, we will also be making them more affordable for our Russian customers," Marcus Osegowitsch, General Manager of Volkswagen Group Rus, explained.

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