Citroen fell victim to industrial piracy. C5 Aircross from Russia

In the new reality, Russia becomes an industrial crime scene where Citroën fell victim. On the citroen.ru website, which is the same as the official one, in the “immediately available cars” tab, the manufacturer tries to sell 96 “Russian” models of the Citroën C5 Aircross. However, what you see there and what is actually there are two different worlds – neither of these cars or websites are related to the Stellantis group.

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This case of industrial piracy shows how the Russian approach to the international rules of the game has changed. To understand how this unprecedented situation happened, it is worth going back to April 2022. Two months after the invasion of Ukraine, Stellantis announced the closure of its Kaluga plant due to daily “equipment problems” and the need to comply with sanctions. The once bustling factory, producing 125,000 cars a year and employing 2,700 people, was abandoned overnight.

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The situation changed in March 2023, the Russian company Automotive Technologies announced that it will resume production of the Citroen C5 Aircross model at the Kaluda plant. The new operator announced that the first cars will appear in showrooms in May 2024, and orders can already be placed through the redesigned Citroen Russia website.

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The silent partner of the whole project is the Dongfeng concern, which apparently supplies components and sub-assemblies for the assembly of Citroëns directly from China. Stellantis has not yet made a decision on the possible impact on its Chinese partner.