The global financial crisis forced Toyota to freeze the launch of a second assembly line at its St. Petersburg plant, delaying expansion plans and new models indefinitely. The plant now makes only Camry, and output is well below expectations. The article also explains how the crisis hit Toyota worldwide and why other Japanese auto projects in Russia are also at risk.

The global financial crisis, which has not spared Russia, is putting its own adjustments to the ambitious plans of automotive giants. Japanese Toyota is forced to freeze the launch of a second assembly line at its plant in St. Petersburg, which the company had hoped would be used to produce new models.
Moscow. January 5. IFX.RU - Problems for automakers in Russia, unfortunately, are not limited to the prolonged New Year holidays and the temporary decline in demand for cars - a number of projects involving major foreign investors are being frozen because of the unfavorable situation.
Thus, the latest victim of the crisis has been the plans of the Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor in Russia - the company will freeze construction of a second assembly line at its plant in St. Petersburg, which, according to the original plans, was supposed to be launched in early 2010, the Japanese newspaper Sankei reported, citing an unnamed source in the company.
LLC "Toyota Motor Manufacturing Russia" currently produces one model in St. Petersburg – the Camry. So far, the production volumes at the plant, which cost the company 5 billion rubles, are below expectations.
Recall that Toyota Motor Company launched its automobile plant in the Shushary industrial zone near St. Petersburg at the end of December 2007 and initially intended to produce 16,000 cars there in 2008. In the first half of last year, however, only 1.5 thousand were produced.
Initially, it was planned that, with the launch of the second assembly line, the plant's output would increase over 1.5-2 years from 20,000 to about 50,000 cars per year, and the model lineup would be expanded. But now those expectations can safely be written off.
It should be noted that Toyota has problems not only in Russia, but all over the world. Toyota will also postpone plans to build a plant for the production of diesel engines in Thailand. Toyota's total global car production fell by 27% in November, with the main declines occurring in Europe - 55%.
Toyota is not the first Japanese automotive victim on Russian soil. As reported, the Japanese company Isuzu Motors has postponed plans to establish production of heavy trucks in Russia on the basis of a joint venture with Sollers (formerly Severstal-Auto) due to declining demand and the high yen. Company head Susumi Hosoi said in December that Isuzu is freezing all new investment projects for the coming months.