On April 6, 2008 (local time in Russia), Closed Joint Stock Company (ZAO) SEVERSTALAUTO-ISUZU/SAI, a joint venture of Sojitz Corporation, Isuzu Motors Limited and OJSC Severstal-auto/SSA, held the opening ceremony for a new plant in Elabuga. The ceremony was attended by Susumu Hosoi, President of Isuzu Motors, Vadim Shvetsov, President of SSA, and Kazunori Teraoka, Senior Managing Executive Officer of Sojitz.

SAI has been proceeding with the preparations to relocate its truck production (semi knock-down/SKD) functions to the new plant in Elabuga, which functions had been to date undertaken at OAO Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (UAZ), an affiliate of SSA. The opening ceremony was held to mark the start of production at the Elabuga plant, which is scheduled to commence full-scale operations from August 2008.

Sales of Isuzu vehicles in Russia have been steadily increasing since their launch in 2006. The company achieved sales of 2,500 units in 2007 and plans to sell 8,000 units in 2008. The relocation of the production base is intended as a response to production and sales expansion requirements, since a significant sales increase is expected in coming years.

The initial number of units planned to be produced at the new plant is 25,000 on an annual basis, and further expansion is projected in keeping with the expected increase in demand for trucks in Russia. Sojitz, Isuzu Motors and SSA will further strengthen their cooperative ties with SAI, and will provide their full support in the operation of the new plant and in improving product quality.

Reference

Outline of New Plant

Location	Elabuga, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation
Opening date	April 2008
Vehicle type to be produced	Isuzu N-series (Japanese name: ELF)
Production type	SKD (semi knock-down)
Production capacity	25,000 units/year
Floor area	about 28,800 m2

Outline of New SAI

Company name	Closed Joint Stock Company (ZAO) SEVERSTALAUTO-ISUZU
Location	Elabuga, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation
Establishment	August 2007
Representative	Vasily Boitsov
Capital	350 million rubles (about 1.6 billion yen)
Shareholder composition	SSA: 66%, Isuzu: 29%, Sojitz: 5%
Main business	Import, manufacture (SKD assembly) and sales of commercial vehicles

Outline of New SSA

Company name	OJSC Severstal-auto
Location	Moscow, Russian Federation
Establishment	2002
Representative	Vadim Shvetsov
Capital	7.987 billion rubles (about 36 billion yen)
Shareholder composition	Vadim Shvetsov: 58%, others: 42%
Main business	Manufacture and sales of commercial & passenger vehicles, car engines