Work has begun on Volkswagen and Skoda’s new production facility in Russia.

Executives from Skoda joined the Russian minister of economy, German Gref, in laying the foundation stone for the new plant in Kaluga. Skoda owns a 37.5% share in the joint venture with VW.

Skoda and VW plan to start assembling vehicles next year and the launch of full-capacity production in the new plant (115,000 vehicles a year) is scheduled for 2009.