VW opens first foreign-owned engine plant in Russia

After three years of construction, the Volkswagen Group has become the first foreign automaker to open its own engine plant in Russia.

The Kaluga plant will produce the newly developed 1.6 litre EA211 petrol engine, which VW says has its most modern engine technology. The engine will be used for the Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Rapid, both produced in Kaluga, as well for the Volkswagen Jetta, Skoda Octavia and Skoda Yeti, built jointly with GAZ in Nizhny Novgorod.

Volkswagen says that annual production capacity of the Kaluga plant will be about 150,000 engines, and €250 million was spent on the 32,000 square metre plant, with 400 jobs created.

As for the engine produced, the naturally aspirated 1.6 litre EA211 unit makes 110 PS (previous 1.6 had either 85 PS or 105 PS, the latter tune is similar to our Polo) and boasts 10% lower weight and CO2 emissions. Will this new engine be heading to our part of the world next?

With the Kaluga plant, the Volkswagen Group is fulfilling its obligation under the “Decree 166” agreement reached with the Russian government in 2011. The agreement stipulated that by 2016, at least 30% of vehicles produced in Russia must be equipped with locally manufactured engines.

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