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Major car brands are suspending exports and operations to Russia following President Vladimir Putin ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
Honda, Toyota, Mazda, the VW Group and Ford joined an exodus of automakers who will no longer do business with the country.
A representative from the VW group says it has already suspended operations in Russia until further notice.
“Volkswagen Group Rus has temporarily suspended deliveries of vehicles to dealers of its brands until further notice. Deliveries shall be resumed once the implications of the sanctions imposed by the European Union and United States have been clarified,” a statement says.
And VW isn’t the only brand making a stand. Toyota has said its priority is ensuring the safety of its workers, and that it’ll monitor the situation and make decisions as necessary.
“As a company with operations in Ukraine and Russia, our priority in dealing with this crisis is to ensure the safety of all our team members, retailer staff, and supply chain partners,” says Toyota. “We are also monitoring global developments and will make necessary decisions as required.”
Honda Motor will stop exporting cars, motorcycles, and other products to Russia, and Mazda has stopped shipments of auto parts to its Sollers manufacturing in Vladivostok.
Ford CEO, Jim Farley, tweeted on Twitter that Ford will also suspend its operations in Russia. “We at Ford are deeply concerned about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the safety of the Ukrainian people,” tweeted Farley. “Effective immediately, Ford is suspending our limited operations in Russia and taking action to support the Global Giving Ukraine Relief Fund.”
Earlier in the week, Jaguar Land Rover said that it would also stop the delivery of vehicles in Russia. “The current global context also presents us with trading challenges so we are pausing the delivery of vehicles into the Russian market and continually monitoring the situation on behalf of our global customer base.”
The same goes for the BMW group, which said it would halt exports of new cars to Russia and stop the assembly of vehicles at its local partner Avtotor’s Russian factory in Kaliningrad where it has produced over 261,000 cars since 1999.
“The BMW Group condemns the aggression against Ukraine and follows the developments with great concern and dismay,” said a translated statement obtained by Bimmertoday.
“As a global company, the BMW Group stands for peaceful coexistence of different cultures all over the world – every day and at all locations. The thoughts of the employees of the BMW Group are with everyone who has to experience suffering and loss in this war.”
“The situation in the war region remains confusing,” BMW added. “We expressly support the sanctions decided by politicians. Due to the current geopolitical situation, we will stop our local production and export for the Russian market until further notice. We continuously evaluate the situation and possible consequences for our employees and our company and examine further measures.”
General Motors was amongst the first to halt operations in Russia, followed by Volvo and other motoring groups.
Keyword: Major car brands suspend Russian exports and operations