Ural Motorcycles is going to move its manufacturing to Petropavlovsk, North Kazakhstan, reported Russian newswire Lenta.ru citing Ilya Khait, CEO of the company.
As the CEO of Ural Motorcycles said, the manufacturing site in Irbit, the Sverdlovsk region of Russia faces a shortage of spare parts because of international sanctions. Foreign customers have also been banned from buying Russian vehicles. Given that key markets for the Ural were Western countries, including the U.S., this decision has had a serious impact on the company. The statement of Khait has been published on the official channel of the company on YouTube.
However, the Irbit Motorcycle Plant is going to continue working; it will produce frames and some elements of motorcycles’ bodies.
The Ural is a well-known Soviet / Russian heavy motorcycle that usually is fitted with a sidecar. Among key markets for the plant are the U.S., the E.U., Canada and Australia. Russian and other NIS countries account for only 3% of newly sold Urals.
