Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ has halted car production indefinitely. All three assembly lines have been halted due to a lack of necessary electronic components at the Togliatti plant. The component makers are not happy with the financial settlement schemes offered by the plant.
A number of suppliers are refusing to accept bills of exchange from AvtoVAZ to pay off the plant’s debts which currently stand at US$495 million.
AvtoVAZ is also experiencing problems with car sales, which were already evident last autumn. No exports were made in January and domestic sales were down 38% to 29,100 units.
Downtime like this at AvtoVAZ has been occurring since the spring of this year because of the constant interruption of parts deliveries. It is not yet known how soon they will be resolved.