TagAZ (Russian: ТагАЗ, Таганрогский автомобильный завод, romanized: Taganrogskiy Avtomobilnyi Zavod, lit. 'Taganrog Automobile Factory') was an automotive assembly plant located in Taganrog, Russia. An affiliated enterprise is the Rostov Truck Factory.
On January 21, 2014, the company was declared bankrupt.[2]
History
Construction of the Taganrog Automotive Plant began in spring 1997, under license and technology of South KoreanDaewoo Motors, and was fully financed by Doninvest Finance & Industry Group, with investment volumes surpassing US$260 million. In 1998, Doninvest launched pilot semi-knocked-down production of the Daewoo Lanos and Daewoo Nubira models.[3]
From 1999 to 2002, the company assembled the Citroën Berlingo Mk I model under the name Orion M.
In 2010, TagAZ announced the construction of a third automotive manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, with an initial $2 billion investment. According to TagAZ officials, the decision to build cars in Bangladesh was made because of its low labour costs and the export advantages it enjoys with neighbouring countries and Europe. TagAZ had already purchased land in the Kishoreganj District and aimed to sell the first car assembled there by 2012.[8][9]
In June 2011, the company began assembly from complete-knocked-down kits of the Tagaz C10 (a rebadged version of the JAC Tojoy).[13] In October 2011, the Tagaz C190 (a rebadged version of the JAC Rein) was added to the line-up.[14]
At one point, the company reached the capacity to simultaneously produce up to 20 different models at its facilities.
Owners and executives
TagAZ's owner was Russian entrepreneur M. Y. Paramonov, CEO of the financial-industrial Doninvest group. One-fifth of TagAZ shares were held by Sapor Invest Inc., Ikaria International Technologies Aktiengesellschaft, Pemberton Establishment, Asha Holding, and Dl Technologies GmbH.
Production capacity
The TagAZ factory at Taganrog covers an area of 60,000 m2 and is divided into 5 departments:
Welding body shop
Paint shop
Assembly shop (4 lines)
Electroplating shop
Functional testing shop
The conveyor line is laid out vertically over four floors of the main plant building, with a network of elevators and lifts linking the different levels. Each level is equipped with a monorail as well as compact lifting and transporting equipment.
All completed vehicles undergo a road test on a track made up of varied road surfaces.
Performance
The current yearly production regime is 180,000 units of six different vehicle models.
2009–2012 TagAZ Vega – this claimed own development was accused of being a copy of the Chevrolet Lacetti; as a result TagAZ lost the rights to export the Vega and their joint venture with Ssangyong was dissolved
