Kazakh car manufacturers are negotiating with Toyota to open a production plant in the country, said Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Kairbek Uskenbayev, QazMonitor reports.
Toyota remains one of the most popular brands in Kazakhstan. In 2021, the automaker sold around 14,000 vehicles, which accounted for around 12% of the country’s total car market.
Following the company’s recent decision to close down its factory in St. Petersburg, Russia, the possibility of Toyota opening its plant in Central Asia’s logistics hub is not far off.
“Business corporations are negotiating among themselves, so I don’t know if it will work out or not,” said Uskenbayev during a briefing. “But if Toyota will open their factory, I think it will be one of the biggest successes of our country.”
The details of the negotiations remain behind closed doors, for now. The minister claims the discussion is about purely technical issues: investment, market readiness level, and so on.
