Viktor Khristenko, Russia's minister of industry and energy, will attend a ceremony to mark the occasion, the ministry's press service said.
Severstal and SsangYong signed a licensing agreement on the production of Rexton vehicles in the Volga republic of Tatarstan on December 6, 2004.
In 2005, work started at the ZMA plant in the city Naberezhnye Chelny, where three other foreign makes are assembled, to set up infrastructure and modernize equipment for the launch of a full-scale production line of Rexton vehicles with over $70 million in investment and an initial capacity of 10,000 cars a year.
Rexton is the best selling all-terrain vehicle in Korea. Production was launched in 2001 and a modernized version, to be made in Russia and expected to sell at about $30,000 per vehicle, appeared on the market in 2003. It will be followed by another two off-road models, Kyron and Actyon, within a year.
Earlier this year, Severstal and Italy's Fiat inked a license agreement to assemble Fiat's Albea, Palio and Doblo models from 2007 at the plant in Naberezhnye Chelny.
A number of foreign companies, including giants such as America's Ford Motor Company, Germany's Volkswagen and Japan's Toyota, have either already opened in the last few years or are planning to open plants in Russia. According to the economics ministry, up to 900,000 foreign cars a year will be assembled in Russia by 2010 and investment will hit $2 billion.
