Nissan President Carlos Ghosn attended the ceremony at the plant, which will produce up to 50,000 units of the Teana luxury sedan and the X-Tail sport utility vehicle annually.
Amid the global economic crisis, Nissan's vehicle sales in Russia plunged 29 percent year on year between October and April. The decline has worsened particularly since Prime Minister Vladimir Putin raised vehicle import tariffs in January to protect domestic automakers.
Nissan's auto sales in Russia are expected to recover somewhat when local production of cars free of the import tariffs expands at the new plant.
Nissan's rival Toyota Motor Corp. started auto production in suburban St. Petersburg in late 2007. This spring, however, the plant was forced to suspend production temporarily due to the auto sales slump.
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