The plan will be launch by 2009. Nissan plans to produce 50,000 cars a year, but output can be expanded with time. Japanese carmaker will assamble in Russia X-Trail off-road vehicles and Teana sedans, to be sold exclusively on the internal market.

„This new okabnt in St Petersburg is not just cars for Russians, it’s aslo new investement and new jobs”, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanow said at the ground – breaking ceremony in the industrial hub Kamenka outside St Petersburg.

Foreign carmakers are streaming to Russia where the oil-fueld economy is booming, and which may become Europe’s biggest car market in 2011, according to recent market research from PricewaterhouseCoopers. PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast in as research last week that car sales in Russia would be worth 96$ billion in 2011. the report found that imports of new foreign car units had grown by 60 percent in the first half of 2007 and of used cars by 46 percent. Sales of foreign cars assembled in Russia grew by 100 percent while sales of Russian brands dipped by 23 percent.