News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 17 November (BelTA) – The first Belarus-made mass-produced car Geely Atlas NL3 rolled off the conveyor belt at the new car factory of SZAO BelGee Company on 17 November, BelTA has learned.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko took part in the solemn ceremony held on 17 November to open the new car factory and launch mass production.

The Belarusian-Chinese joint venture SZAO BelGee was established in 2011 to make Geely brand cars. The company assembled the first car in February 2013. BelGee shareholders are BelAZ (51.49%), Zhejiang Jirun Automobile Company Limited (33.47%), SZAO Soyuzavtotekhnologiyi (9.01%), and CITIC International Investment Limited (6.03%).

The construction of the factory to assemble cars using completely knocked down kits began in late March 2015. The new factory is located between Borisov and Zhodino and occupies about 120ha. The factory is designed to make 60,000 cars per annum once the first stage is fully operational.

Plans have been made to use the full fabrication cycle to make Geely NL3 and NL4 crossovers and the Geely FE3 sedan. All the cars will have either mechanical gearboxes or automatic gearboxes. They will be compliant with the Euro-5 emissions standard. A four-wheel drive is an option of the Geely NL3 model.

The in-service trials of the factory’s equipment for making Geely Atlas NL3 cars were successfully finished in October 2017. The in-service trials for the Geely NL4 model are scheduled for January 2018, with the Geely FE3 model up for in-service trials in May 2018.

In 2017 the new car factory is expected to make about 1,800 vehicles. More will be made and sold in 2018. In 2018 and 2019 the new car factory is supposed to make 25,000 cars and 35,000 cars respectively.

At present the BelGee car factory employs over 760 people. Their salaries averaged the equivalent of $465 in October. In December 2017 the figure is supposed to reach $500.