SOK Group

The SOK Group (Russian: Группа «СОК») was a Russian holding company established in 1994 and based in Samara, Russia.^[1] Yuri Kachmazov was the group's president.^[2]

The name SOK was originally an acronym for 'Samara Window Company'.^[3]

The SOK Group started in 1994 as an AvtoVAZ dealership, growing to become one of the main automotive companies in Russia.^[4] SOK managed to gain control of RosLada, an automotive plant that had been established in 1998 on the grounds of the former Luch Design Bureau in Syzran,^[5] and used it to produce old AvtoVAZ models.^[6]

In 1999 the ownership of the Izhmash-Avto plant in Izhevsk, which produced old AvtoVAZ models under the Izh brand, was transferred to the group.^[7] SOK also included over 40 other factories, mostly in the automotive component business, and employed over 100,000 workers.^[6]

Revenues grew from $19 million in 1999 to close to $200 million in 2002.^[4] It was the second largest passenger car producer in Russia after AvtoVAZ, with production totaling 121,172 cars in 2002.^[6] In August 2003 VAZInterService became part of the group.^[8]

By 2004 the group had $2 billion in revenues and supplied 37%-50% of all AvtoVAZ accessories; AvtoVAZ could not withdraw from such cooperation agreements without paying SOK $492 million in penalties.^{[citation needed]} In October 2005 SOK reportedly owned over 60% of AvtoVAZ shares, and ousted Vladimir Kadannikov, the company's chairman.^[9]

SOK group attempted to gain control of AvtoVAZ, which was instead gained by the state-owned Rostec corporation. The Rostec-appointed AvtoVAZ management began to phase out or rescind supply contracts between SOK and AvtoVAZ.^[10]

In 2008, SOK began negotiations to sell the IzhAvto plant to AvtoVAZ.^[11] In 2009 the group was forced to sell its automotive components holdings to AvtoVAZ, after SOK had disrupted the schedule of deliveries to the company.^[12] The components business ultimately came under control of Rostec as the United Automotive Technologies group.^[10] In 2010 the president of the group, wanted over allegations of fraudulent conveyance during the IzhAvto bankruptcy of 2009, escaped to the United Arab Emirates.^[11] The group's last assets were sold in January 2013.^[13]

Car models produced by the group:^[14]

• VAZ-2106
• VAZ-21043
• VAZ-2107
• Izh 2126
• Izh 2117
• VAZ-21093

• Promek Bank, later sold to Societe Generale
• TV channel Orion
• Volgomost, a bridge construction company

• SOK Group (archived)