MIASS, Chelyabinsk Region. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ural automobile plant plans to produce 10,000 vehicles this year, the plant's acting director general Viktor Korman told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
At present the plant is developing and modernising a series of vehicles for the Armed Forces and other law-enforcement agencies and produces dual-purpose vehicles. Among them is the Ural 32551 heat-insulated bus intended for transporting personnel on all kinds of roads and rough terrain in Siberia and the Extreme North. The bus is in demand among oilmen, gasmen and other specialists working in shifts in Tyumen, Surgut, Ufa, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk and other Russian towns and regions. The majority of vehicles is being exported to China, Egypt, other countries of Africa, and South America.
According to Korman, the enterprise,which is the main producer of off-roaders for the army and other law-enforcement agencies, is escaping from a serious financial and production crisis. It became possible due to the appearance of a group of managers led by Valery Panov, the plant's exterior manager, in September 1998 when the plant was on the edge of bankruptcy. The situation was also aggravated by the absence of the state order, non-payment on all budget and non-budget articles, lack of floating assets and accounts payable making RUR3.5bn (USD118.76m).
The new leadership eliminated the secondary market of vehicles, removed mediators and started selling trucks on their real prices, not lower than first coast.
By June 1999 the plant became profitable and completely repaid the salary debt. The level of tax payments grew by 241 percent in 2000 in comparison with the previous year.
The current state of affairs will help the plant get rid of the exterior management and gain independence again, Korman said.