AvtoVAZ plans to start producing a sedan based on Renault platforms next month amid talks with the French company and its partner Nissan Motor to boost their stake in Russia's largest automaker.

The first of the new Lada models should roll out of the assembly line at the end of February, AvtoVAZ chief executive Igor Komarov said in Davos, Switzerland, last week.

AvtoVAZ will later produce Nissan-branded cars on the same line, allowing AvtoVAZ to boost output to as many as 750,000 cars and kits this year, after selling about 730,000 last year, according to Komarov.

(Bloomberg)