Gates Corp., a U.S. maker producer of rubber belts for the automotive industry, applied to the Leningrad regional government to build a factory near St. Petersburg, Russia.

Gates is looking for as much as 10,000 square meters (2.5 acres) for a plant to make automotive belts, said Alexander Butenin, a spokesman for Leningrad’s regional committee for economic development. The Denver-based company hasn’t disclosed more detail so far, he said.

The five automotive plants that operate in St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region -- the Ford-Sollers joint venture, Toyota Motor Co. (7203), Nissan Motor Co. (7201), General Motors (GM) Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. (005380) -- produced 123,400 cars in the first four months, 6 percent more than in the same period a year earlier, according to AutoDealer-SPb, an automotive research organization.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anatoly Temkin in St. Petersburg at atemkin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net