Russia's Sollers launches production of safety system components

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - Sollers Group has started serial production of passive safety system components - steering wheels, airbags and system control units.

The project has been launched by the company's subsidiary, KSB LLC, at an industrial site in Ulyanovsk. Total investment amounted to 1.5 billion rubles, of which 1.2 billion rubles were provided by the Industrial Development Fund as a concessional loan, Sollers said.

"For the first time in the country, steering wheel frames are cast from Russian magnesium alloy, and laser cutting and sewing of airbag materials have been implemented with a high level of automation using technology that also has no analogues in Russia," the chairman of Sollers' board of directors, Adil Shirinov, was quoted as saying by the company's press service. "Plans include further localization of all materials and subcomponents for the production of airbags, steering wheels and seat belts."

The first to receive the domestically produced safety components and control units will be Sollers ST6 and ST8 pickups and Sollers SF5 light commercial vehicles; deliveries have already started. In the near future, the Ulyanovsk-made components will also begin to be installed on updated UAZ Patriot, Pickup, and Profi models, and in the future, on the entire Sollers model line.