Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus, LLC

Avtozavod AGR (Avtozavod AGR LLC) is a former automobile plant of Hyundai Motor, located in St. Petersburg. KHMMR is the first full production cycle plant among foreign automakers in Russia. On its site are located: stamping workshop, welding workshop, painting workshop, assembly workshop. The production processes of the company's St. Petersburg plant are characterized by a high degree of automation. The KHMMR plant has a high level of localization due to the Korean suppliers located in the region. Investments in the construction of the plant amounted to $500 million.

Hyundai Motor CIS

Main article: Hyundai Motor CIS

History

2024

Name change to "AGR Automobile Plant"

In February 2024, the former plant of the South Korean Hyundai Motor Company in St. Petersburg (Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus LLC changed its name to AGR Automobile Plant (Avtozavod AGR LLC). The general director of Avtozavod AGR LLC is Alexey Kalitsev, appointed in January 2024 as the general director of the AGR holding.

The resumption of the release of Hyundai Solaris and Kia Rio under the Solaris brand

In January 2024, the production of Hyundai Solaris and Kia Rio models at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR) plant located in St. Petersburg was resumed in Russia. Kia Rio and Hyundai Solaris models will go on sale under the Solaris brand.

At the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus plant in St. Petersburg, 6 − 8 Hyundai Solaris and Kia Rio cars are now coming off the assembly line every day. "Kret" [Hyundai Creta crossovers] have not yet been seen. All these cars go with the original nameplates (they are called labels at the plant) Hyundai and Kia, - the Russian Car Telegram channel reported on January 15, 2024, citing sources.

Hyundai Solaris and Kia Rio models resumed

According to them, Solaris is one of the names of the machines produced at HMMP, which they wanted to make a separate brand and tried on the corresponding emblems for cars. In this case, there will be no need to change the designations on the internal parts of the cars, which have a reference to Hyundai Motor, because the brand belongs to Hyundai itself, writes "Russian Car." It is noted that Solaris is one of 27 brands registered in Russia at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus LLC.

Models will go on sale under the Solaris brand

The production of Kia and Hyundai cars at the plant in St. Petersburg resumed after a long break. According to unofficial information, the company has car kits for the production of about two thousand cars, when additional components are received, the plant can assemble up to 50 thousand cars.

The head of the Avtomarketologist project, Oleg Moseev, in a conversation with Kommersant, noted that Hyundai Solaris and Kia Rio, which were also produced at a plant near St. Petersburg, have long been the most popular in the Russian car market, but the production of cars based on them under the general Solaris brand will be justified only in the case of budget sedans.^[1]

2023

Art-Finance buys out Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg for 7 thousand rubles

The Board of Directors Hyundai Motor approved the sale of its plant St. Petersburg in the Russian company "" Art Finance(dealer structure "") Avilon for a symbolic amount of $77.67 (about 7 thousand). rubles The South Korean manufacturer announced this on December 19, 2023.

Hyundai Motor has agreed on a plan to sell its stake in the St. Petersburg Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus Plant (KMMR) to the Russian company Art-Finance LLC. Hyundai Motor will continue to provide after-sales service and other support for Hyundai customers in Russia, "Hyundai said in a statement published on the company's website on December 19, 2023.

Hyundai Motor Board of Directors approves sale of St. Petersburg plant to Art-Finance

It was planned to close the deal by December 28, 2023. One of its conditions will be the possibility of a buyback of the enterprise. Thus, as noted by Reuters, Hyundai Motor followed the path of a number of other large automakers who decided to sell their assets in Russia for a symbolic price, but with the possibility of repurchasing them in order to return to the Russian market at some point.

According to the news agency, Hyundai's loss from the sale of the St. Petersburg plant is estimated at 287 billion won ($2192 million). In addition, the newspaper clarifies that Hyundai also sells the GM plant in St. Petersburg, which was bought in 2020.

On September 25, 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov said on the sidelines of an industrial exhibition that a Russian company would become the buyer of the Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg. According to Manturov, Hyundai is counting on a deal providing for a reverse option, but taking into account the presidential decree "it will be limited to two years." The company produced about 200 thousand cars a year, about 2.6 thousand people worked there.^[2]

At the end of January 2024, Art Finance closed the deal to acquire the Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg.

Dialogue with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government of St. Petersburg on the resumption of the plant in St. Petersburg

The Korean concern Hyundai is in dialogue with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government of St. Petersburg on how to resume the work of the St. Petersburg plant, said the director of the procurement department of Hyundai Motor Jung Hyunchol at the end of January 2023.

2022

Resumption of production at the plant in St. Petersburg, but only for export

At the end of December 2022, it became known about the resumption of Hyundai production in Russia. However, we are talking about the supply of products for export.

According to Vedomosti, the Hyundai automobile plant in St. Petersburg, after a long downtime, began production of bodies for the Hyundai Solaris model assembled in Kazakhstan.

Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg

On December 15, 2022, the Kazakhstan plant Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan resumed production of the Solaris sedan, which is called Accent in the local market. The Kazakh enterprise now receives components for assembly not from one country, as before, but from several at once: China, India, Korea and Russia. According to the company's specialists, the company expects long-term cooperation with new suppliers and plans to gradually increase Accent's production volumes. The model has been absent from the production range of Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan since August 2022.

You should not consider the production of bodies at the Russian Hyundai plant as a sign that the company has decided to stay in Russia, said Sergei Burgazliev, an independent consultant for the automotive industry. According to him, the company earns incomparably less on the manufacture of bodies than on finished cars.

As far as I know, Hyundai has not yet made a final decision regarding the Russian site. In light of the current situation, the concern may wait another year. I do not believe that they will completely restart the plant in 2023, the expert added in a conversation with the newspaper.

The Russian plant supplied products to Kazakhstan before that. In 2021, exports to neighboring countries amounted to 24 thousand cars, 16 thousand of them were shipped in the form of machine kits for assembly at the site in Almaty, the newspaper recalls.^[3]

The company is considering the option of closing the plant in Russia

Hyundai Motor is considering various options for business in Russia, including the sale of a plant in St. Petersburg, the Tona Ilbo newspaper reported in October 2022. This option is being considered at the enterprise due to the "inability to conduct normal financial activities" in the Russian Federation.

Suspension of reconstruction of a plant in Russia amid sanctions during the conflict in Ukraine

In August 2022, the Korean company Hyundai suspended the reconstruction project of the former General Motors plant in Shushary for an indefinite period.

Suspension of the work of the plant in St. Petersburg against the background of the special operation of Russia in Ukraine

On February 28, 2022, information appeared that against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, Hyundai was suspending the work of the Russian plant in St. Petersburg from March 1 to 5 due to problems with the supply of components.

2021: Purchase of a closed General Motors plant in St. Petersburg

The Korean company in July 2020 filed a corresponding petition with the FAS. In 2021, the localization of Hyundai production in Russia will increase significantly - the company is building a huge motor plant in Sestroretsk.

2018: Investment in Swiss-Russian developer of AR solutions for WayRay cars

September 18, 2018 it became known about the attraction of WayRay investments in the amount of $80 million. The financial deal headed by Porsche was attended by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) together with a consortium of sovereign wealth funds (Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain), including the Russian-Japanese Investment Fund (created by RDIF and JBIC), as well as Hyundai Motor, Alibaba Group, AFK Sistema, China Merchants Capital funds and JVC Kenwood. Read more here.

2010: Opening of a plant in St. Petersburg

• In 2010, Hyundai Motor opened a full-cycle plant in St. Petersburg and introduced its first Russian model - Hyundai Solaris.

2008: Memorandum on the construction of an automobile plant in St. Petersburg

In February 2008, Hyundai Motor Company entered into a memorandum on the construction of an automobile plant with the Government of St. Petersburg, and in June 2008 the first stone of the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR) plant was laid.

Hyundai Motor Company is the largest Korean car manufacturer and occupies one of the leading places in the global automotive market. The company began its work in Russia in 1991.

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