FIRST OF 75 MILLION AUTO PRODUCED BY AUTOZAZ DAEWOO JOINT VENTURE

On April 15 the first automobile produced by the Daewoo-AvtoZAZ joint venture rolled off the line. The total value of the 10 year joint project is estimated at $1.332 billion. The firm’s statutory fund is $300 million.

That very night of April 15 the Korean side transferred $75 million to AvtoZAZ as the final installment of its financial contribution to the project.

In May AvtoZAZ is scheduled to produce 1500 Tavriya automobiles, and in June is to hit its stride at 4500 monthly.

Some experts have recently taken a dim view of the project, noting that the Ukrainian market is unlikely absorb so many cars and calling into question their price competitiveness, even given tax and customs policies favoring the firm. However, the mechanism of selling the automobiles on credit et. al. are likely to make such judgments seem premature.