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Russian-made cars used to conjure up images of boxy, broken down Ladas. Now car sales are jumping and foreign car makers are investing billions. This week, Moscow’s International Motor Show is supplying plenty of glitz. But behind the hoopla, the real excitement is that Russia is on its way to become one of the world’s top five car markets. With sales jumping in Russia, and slumping in Europe this year, Russia is projected to displace Germany in 2014 as Europe’s largest car market. That would make Russia the world’s fourth largest car market - after China, the United States and Japan, according to the research group Euromonitor. Russia finally joined the World Trade Organization last month. Now car companies are racing to boost production before import tariffs start dropping. Each of the American big three automakers - Ford, GM and Chrysler - plans to invest $1 billion in car factories in Russia. “We were the first ones in here 10 years ago, and we’ve built over 500,000 vehicles here,” says Ted Cannis, president of the Ford Sollers joint venture in Russia. “This is a key, core place in Russia. And we see a huge potential for Ford.” A few stands away, James Bovenzi, GM’s president for Russia, says GM’s plan is to double its Russia production over the next five years. “GM values the Russian market,” Bovenzi says. “We see it as one of the big growing markets in the world.” | 
