A Lada car rolling off the AvtoVAZ assembly line
Over the holiday weekend, AvtoVAZ announced a contract with multinational auto parts maker Magna International to build a major new car factory in Russia. The Moscow Times reports that the deal could be worth as much as $1.6 billion and eventually produce 500,000 cars per year. AvtoVAZ is concentrating on the moderately priced car market in Russia with a model that will cost between $10,000-$12,000. AvtoVAZ already manufactures the Viva compact car and Niva small SUV for the Russian market with General Motors. Since Boris Berezovsky sold the company in the 1990s, AvtoVAZ has come under new management as part of a major modernization plan.
Russia is one of the fastest growing markets in the world for cellular service
In other business news from the weeked, the International Herald Tribune reports that Nokia extended a two year contract with the Russian wireless company Megafon to provide equipment worth $420 million. with over 23 million customers, Megafon is third largest cellular service provider in Russia.
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