The management of Hyundai Motor is thinking about the future of its factory in Russia, with the abbreviation HMMR – Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus. One of the possible scenarios for the development of events, the Korean edition of Dong-a Ilbo, citing its own sources, mentions the sale of the plant. However, it is determined that the company’s headquarters in South Korea is in no rush with this option.
The source writes that a report was recently provided to the Korean leadership that analyzes the brand’s current position in Russia. In particular, the report indicates that the company’s Russian distributor is in financial difficulties due to its inability to receive wire transfers from Korea.
According to the publication, by the beginning of 2022, more than 17 thousand cars assembled at the Russian HMMR were sold every month in Russia and in European markets. In March, the factory shut down due to a shortage of components. Kaliningrad Avtotor also no longer produces Hyundai cars, the source recalls. Meanwhile, the company has to spend money on payments to workers, taxes on the maintenance of the St. Petersburg plant, and paying bills for water and electricity.
At the same time, completely exiting the Russian market and leaving the factory is extremely unprofitable for Hyundai Motor, emphasizes the author of the article. Launched in 2010, HMMP has a design capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year and is a full cycle factory. In 2016, Honorary Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Chung Mong-gu, said one should not leave Russia “even if there are difficulties”.
In 2020, the company bought a permanent GM plant in St. Petersburg, but production expansion was halted with the outbreak of the crisis. Despite this, until recently Hyundai had the second largest share of the car market in Russia. The publication concludes: Hyundai Motor will try to stay in the Russian Federation as long as possible.
Clarity may be forthcoming at the end of October: On the 27th-28th day of each month, HMMR management usually extended downtime, notes Russian Automobile. This source also notes that the preservation of equipment began at the factory, and a few days earlier, the remaining cars were taken out of the area, including not fully assembled cars – about 1.5 thousand cars in total.
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