Azerbaijan to launch producing pickups, electric cars

Azerbaijan will start assembling pickup trucks and electric vehicles of the Chinese brand from September 2022.

Farhad Huseynov, Head of Baku-based Cahan Holding's sales department, made this announcement on June 13, adding that the cars will be assembled in the Nakhchivan Automobile Plant, according to APA.

He said that the assembly of pickups of the Chinese ZX Avto brand will begin at the plant for the first time, noting that the car parts will be mainly imported from China.

“If the company approves, spare parts produced at the Sumgayit factories [of Azerbaijan] can also be used in the assembly of pickups,” Huseynov said.

He also highlighted the plans on assembling 300-400 units of ZX Avto pickups per year.

Regarding the production of electric vehicles at the Nakhchivan Automobile Plant, Huseynov noted that 7-8 electric vehicles of Chinese brands have already been imported to Azerbaijan for the test run. But the brand that will be produced in Azerbaijan has not yet been approved.

“After choosing the brand of an electric car, at the initial stage, it is planned to assemble 40-50 units of electric vehicles such as a minivan, sedan, and hatchback with a passenger capacity of 7-8 people.”

Earlier, the Nakhchivan Automobile Plant assembled cars of the Chinese brand Lifan.

The factory is currently producing Chinese FAW models.