(CNN business)Stellantis, the maker of Dodge and Jeep vehicles, has a factory in Russia. However, unlike some other companies, it hasn’t announced any plans to withdraw the country in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said he felt it would only hurt the wrong people.
“We believe that we should not mix regimes and people,” he said in an interview with CNN Business. “The regime is one thing, the citizens are another.”
Stellantis operates a factory in Kaluga, about 90 miles outside of Moscow, as a joint venture with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi. The plant, which employs 2,700 people, produces around 11,000 Peugeot, Opel and Citroën vans a year.
“We respect and love the local people,” Tavares said. “That means we have people in Ukraine, we take care of them. We have people in Russia and we love them too.”
Shutting down work at the factory would harm the Stellantis factory in Russia and harm workers’ livelihoods there, not the Russian leadership, he said.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, several other automakers have announced they will be ceasing operations in Russia.
Ford, which has a joint-venture factory with a Russian company in Elabuga, Russia, recently announced that it would cease production and cease operations there. General Motors, which has no manufacturing plants in Russia, previously announced it would stop selling cars in the country. Some others, such as Hyundai and Toyota, have said they will temporarily halt production in Russia due to parts supply disruptions.
“I assume that the plant will be shut down very soon for a very similar reason,” Tavares said of the Kaluga factory. “There are no parts.”
So far, he said, Stellantis has avoided parts-related disruptions due to the invasion of Ukraine simply because its suppliers are primarily located in other parts of the world.
“We have more in southern Europe and northern Africa,” he said, “which means that by coincidence, by pure coincidence, we haven’t had this type of disruption yet. It may come because of the depth of the supply chain.”
During a press briefing earlier this week about the company’s global strategy, Tavares said Stellantis has 71 employees in Ukraine, of which three company officials are out of touch. At a meeting with journalists on Thursday, Tavares said the staff had been contacted and had decided to stay in Ukraine.
Stellantis announced earlier Thursday that it is committing 1 million euros, or $1.1 million, to help fund relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees ahead of the Russian invasion.
Stellantis will comply with any sanctions that may affect its business, Tavares said.
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