Aurélien Fleurot / Photo credit: JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP
For several weeks, the Stellantis factory in Kaluga, located 200 km from Moscow in Russia, but closed after the invasion of Ukraine, has resumed service and is starting to produce Citroën vehicles again, without the slightest intervention from the French manufacturer . A strangeness which could be the result of a Russian-Chinese understanding.
Cars coming out of a factory that was supposed to be closed. 200 km from Moscow, Citroëns continue to be assembled, probably with the help of a Chinese manufacturer, even though this site no longer produced, in theory, a single vehicle due to international sanctions following the war in Ukraine. .
This is a “concrete example of what happens when you lose control of a factory”, explains Citroën to Europe 1. The French manufacturer had left this Kaluga factory abandoned. and the site, which produced 125,000 vehicles per year and employed 2,700 people, had gradually become deserted.
All eyes are on a Chinese manufacturer
But for several weeks, production has resumed without any link with the Stellantis group. Still, Russian motorists can pre-order a C5 AirCross for pickup starting next month. Former employees appear to have been rehired, without knowing precisely by whom, and given kits to assemble the vehicles.
Citroën does not accuse anyone directly, but all eyes are on the Chinese manufacturer Dongfeng which, as part of a partnership, produces Peugeot 3008 and Citroën C5 AirCross in China. This is how geopolitics enters the automotive sector and how a Russian-Chinese agreement seems to make it possible to sell Citroëns without any intervention from Citroën.