Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co is in talks to build a car plant in the town of Dzerzhinsk near Nizhny Novgorod, Dzerzhinsk's Mayor Viktor Sopin said on Thursday.
"I hope the talks will be successful, but I was given notice that the Japanese do not make prompt decisions," Sopin told reporters. He did not give details of the capacity of the future plant or when it might be built.
Honda were not available for comment for RIA Novosti and declined to comment to other media.
Dmitri Levchenkov, head of special economic zones and project financing in Russia's Economic Development Ministry, said on Monday that Honda might build a plant in Russia under similar conditions to its competitors who have already set up in Russia.
Under the new regime introduced in Russia in spring 2011, car producers setting up industrial assembly in Russia will have to produce at least 300,000 vehicles a year for several years after starting up, while companies which already assemble vehicles at their plants in Russia will have to increase their output to 350,000 a year. The new terms also include a requirement that semi knock-down car production should not exceed 5 percent of total car output.
Mayor Sopin also said that China's third largest car manufacturer Foton Motors might build a plant in the town. The Chinese company is considering plans to launch truck production in the first phase of the project and then start passenger car output under the second phase.
"Volume of investment will be high. About 12,000 jobs will be created within four years," the mayor said, without specifying when.
