2 powerful automobile holdings to be created on Volga river

The holdings are to be formed on the basis of the Gorky and Volzhsky automobile plants (both are situated on the Volga river, one in Nizhny Novgorod and the other in Togliatti). General director of OAO Gorkovski Avtomobilny Zavod (Gorki Automobile Works, or GAZ) Viktor Belyayev is quoted by RIA Novosti as saying at a news conference that GAZ is to primarily merge with the Pavlovo bus plant, the Arzamas machine-building plant and the caterpillar prime mover-making plant (the city of Arzamas in the Nizhny Novgorod Region) which are controlled by it, as well as with the auto factories of Minsk (Belarus) and Yaroslavl (north of Moscow). Mr. Belyayev also said that the Siberian Aluminium group which is a major shareholder of GAZ has declared the necessity of consolidating the Russian automobile industry. The proposals by the head of the Siberian Aluminium have already been sent to the government, according to Mr. Belyayev. Chairman of the Board at AO AvtoVAZ Vladimir Kadannikov also considers setting up of a holding . His plants intends to merge with the IzhmashAvto and the Taganrog machine-building plant.