GM to shut Russian factory on plunging sales

(MENAFN) General Motors will shut a Russian factory and wind down its Opel brand in the country, taking a USD600 million charge as it restructures to cope with a prolonged slump in the market, Oman Observer reported.

After several years of growth in excess of 10 percent, car sales in Russia shrank in 2014 as the economy weakened, battered by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and sliding oil prices

GM's retrenchment in Russia is the latest in a series of moves by global automakers to scale back money-losing bets on emerging markets that have failed to live up to the bullish expectations industry.