Renault chairman Louis Schweitzer has revealed that he will decide in the spring of next year whether the carmaker will build cars in Russia. The company already has a plant site earmarked.

Renault has been importing cars into Russia since 1996 under a joint venture scheme with the city of Moscow via the Avtoframos organisation.

Interviewed in Automotive News, Mr Schweitzer said: “I shall decide next spring whether we should build cars there or not. It looks as if the political and economic scene is stabilising, which is encouraging.”

But he said they needed clear and precise rules within the Avtoframos arrangement. “We import cars, we have a network, we have a legal structure, but we don't produce cars. The conditions for that are not yet met.”