FRANKFURT, Sept 13 — Volkswagen’s truck subsidiary Traton said today it would take a €550-million (RM2.5-billion) financial hit as its brands MAN and Scania parted ways with their sales units in Russia.
The two subsidiaries would dispose of “their sales companies in the Russian Federation to local sales partners”, with Scania also dumping its “financing business” in the market, Traton said in a statement.
The truck-maker expected “to realise an additional loss of up to €550 million” for the sale, depending on changing exchange rates.
The transaction would need to be approved by the supervisory boards of Traton and its parent, the Volkswagen group, and was set to be completed “by the first quarter of 2023”, the group said.
The financial hit came on top of €113 million in costs “due to the direct impact of the war in Ukraine”, which had already been accounted for, it said.
Traton’s production site in St Petersburg has lain dormant since March, following the Russian invasion.
The commercial vehicles group joins a growing list of companies to sell their assets in Russia, while many others have long stopped their operations.
German automakers, including Volkswagen and rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW, halted exports to Russia shortly after the outbreak of the conflict and closed their local production sites. — AFP
