Here is the most professional and authoritative series of Korean cars and Korean car markets, "Korean Trends" No. 1169.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, many car brands have chosen to leave the Russian market. Previously, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Nissan, Toyota, which already had factories in Russia, had already closed their factories. Hyundai has been holding on, hoping to resume production after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but after holding on for 2 years, Hyundai Motor can't hold on.
Hyundai Motor held an extraordinary board meeting on November 19 and approved a proposal for a stake in Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Russia (HMMR) in St. Petersburg, Russia.
At the moment, Hyundai Motor is negotiating with the local Russian enterprise Art-Finance on the specific contract conditions for the shares of the ** plant. It was confirmed that the actual ** amount was 10,000 rubles (about 800 yuan), but there was one condition, which was a "repurchase option" that could be repurchased within two years. In addition, Hyundai Motor plans to continue after-sales service operations for its existing vehicles in consideration of local conditions in Russia.
Hyundai Motor began exporting to Russia in the 90s of the 20th century, and established a local subsidiary in Russia in 2007. In 2010, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-gu led the construction of a 200,000-unit vehicle plant in St. Petersburg. In addition, in 2020, the company acquired a production plant at General Motors (GM) to increase production to 330,000 units.
In August 2021, Hyundai's market share in Russia was 275%, ranking first in local car sales, and after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Kia's "Leo" and Hyundai Motor's "Solaris" also maintained the top two sales.
However, since March, the plant has officially stopped production, and sales have plummeted. As a result, the share of sales this year has actually also fallen to "zero". According to the European Entrepreneur Association (AEB), the cumulative sales share of Hyundai Motor and Kia in the first three quarters of this year was only 14%。With the disruption of factory operations, it has effectively entered a state of "opening and closing".
Originally, Hyundai Motor planned to resume low-volume production at its St. Petersburg plant in accordance with local parts supply and demand. However, there are difficulties in selecting the best business. There are concerns about the second sanctions and the loss of global reputation due to the resumption of local production. Hyundai Motor failed to build a new logistics chain through the port last year, and did not even enjoy the effect of reducing transportation costs, and finally decided to ** factory.