Avtovaz To Produce New Cars Models

The Russian government will soon issue an order to end the controlling interest of the AVTOVAZ company, according to Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, minister of science, industry, and technology. The AVTOVAZ is a car factory in Togliatti (the Volga area). According to Klebanov, it was decided to return the control interest due to the need for attracting investment in production of new makes of cars. Klebanov mentioned that the factory had transferred the controlling interest to the state in 1996-97 - "a complicated time for the factory" - to provide for restructuring of the debt to the budget. The factory was granted in return a 10-year respite for paying off the debt. Klebanov said that the AVTOVAZ was ready to produce totally new models by 2006.