12 May 1999
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Delegates For Vsya Rossia Congress Elected
The Vsya Rossia (All Russia) electoral bloc held an organizational meeting at the Kazan Cultural Center on 12 May. Twenty-two delegates from the Tatar branch of Vsya Rossia were elected to attend the bloc's founding congress on 22 May in St. Petersburg.
YelAZ-GM Freezes Blazers Production
The production of Chevrolet Blazers at the YelAZ-General Motors joint venture has been frozen, republican media reported on 11 May. YelAZ-GM representatives in Kazan announced the same day that reserve stocks of some 1,100 assembled vehicles "would be able to satisfy existing demand for months." YelAZ-GM will later resume production of only four-wheel drive Blazers, canceling production of the cheapest two-wheel drive model, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 11 May. Some 2,600 Blazers were reportedly sold in the two and a half years since the launch of YelAZ-GM, while planned output for 1998 was 50,000 vehicles. Tatar media speculates that Blazer sales were low due to the price of between $18,000-26,000. YelAZ-GM presented the Opel Vectra on 12 May, and they will cost some $14,000, Tatar Television reported.
Industry In Tatarstan Remains Stable In 1999
Igor Rassman, the deputy general-director of the Industrial Companies Association in Tatarstan, told Tatarinform agency on 11 May that industrial production in the republic in the first four months of 1999 grew 1.7 percent. Rassman said most of the growth was from automotive and mechanical companies.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi