TagAZ


TagAZ 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.

History

Construction of the Taganrog Automotive Plant began in spring 1997, under license and technology of South Korean Daewoo 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.
From 1999 to 2002, the company assembled the Citroën Berlingo Mk I model under the name Orion M.
In 2001, it started producing the Hyundai Accent, followed in 2004 by the Hyundai Sonata, in 2008 by the Hyundai Elantra, and in 2005 by the Hyundai Porter light truck. In 2008, it started production of the Hyundai Santa Fe. In the spring of 2012, production of the Hyundai models was over.
In 2008, it began assembly from semi-knocked-down kits of the Vortex Estina.
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.
In October 2010, TagAZ started assembling the BYD F3, Vortex Corda, and Vortex Tingo models.
In June 2011, the company began assembly from complete-knocked-down kits of the Tagaz C10. In October 2011, the Tagaz C190 was added to the line-up.
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:
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.
Year199920002003200420052006200720082009
Production5862983,81025,60245,41755,90079,620106,32229,240

Model lineup

TagAZ-owned brands

Over its lifetime TagAZ used three different brands:

Doninvest

Under the brand Doninvest
Vortex
TagAZ
TagAZ assembled the following foreign brands from knock-down kits:

Hyundai brand