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MOSCOW, July 15 Over the past year, foreign automakers have been gradually leaving the Russian market; Japanese Isuzu, however, three foreign automakers that own production sites in the Russian Federation — Hyundai, Stellantis and Mitsubishi — have not yet made final statements about leaving, calculated.
The production of Hyundai cars at the plant in St. Petersburg was suspended in March last year. Since then, the Korean media have repeatedly reported on the possible sale of this asset, in particular, to Astana Motors. The Kazakh company subsequently refuted such plans. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation in May of this year confirmed that Hyundai had announced its intentions of a possible sale of the car plant, to whom exactly — the ministry did not disclose, specifying that a final decision had not yet been made.
«The sale of this plant is a matter of time. This is a huge new plant, around which there are many component factories, it is a pity most of all. It is very high-tech, very modern, but tailored for a specific model. <…> In the current conditions, all purchases of former assets car concerns that have left the Russian Federation can be made exclusively by Russian companies. Not a single foreigner, in particular a Chinese, will come here with such a purchase,» auto expert Igor Morzharetto commented on the possible sale of the Hyundai plant.
The car corporation Stellantis, which owns 70 percent of the PSMA Rus plant in Kaluga, continues to play silent. The company produced light commercial vehicles Peugeot, Opel and Citroёn on it, but in April last year it was officially announced the suspension of production. Foreign media, in turn, wrote that against the backdrop of sanctions, the company could transfer production from the Russian Federation, but at the time Stellaantis' Russian office did not confirm such information.
Nevertheless, sales of brands previously produced by the corporation are rapidly falling. For example, according to the Association of European Businesses, in June they collectively did not even reach 50 cars.
The second owner of the PSMA Rus automobile plant is Japanese Mitsubishi, until April 2022 the company used this site to produce Outlander and Pajero Sport models. The conveyor is still idle, there have been no official comments on the future activities of the automaker in the country.
Time of opportunity
There is also a fourth foreign auto concern in the Russian Federation — the Chinese Haval (a plant in the Tula region). Unlike the above, the company did not stop production: it still assembles the Haval Jolion, Haval F7, Haval F7x, Haval Dargo and Haval H9 models. It also confirms plans to complete a new engine plant near Tula in the fourth quarter.
«Haval is working, bringing out new models. This year announced that it will assemble 100,000 cars — this is more than it has assembled in the previous four years,» said auto expert Morzharetto.
Brand sales in Russia are growing rapidly: according to the Association of European Businesses, in the first half of 2023 they grew 3.4 times compared to the same period last year, reaching almost 40 thousand cars. Now Haval ranks third in sales in the Russian car market, while in the last half of the year it was a modest tenth.After the start of the CBO, foreign automakers began to gradually leave the Russian market. Some have an option that allows them to buy back assets and return, such as Renault, which sold its stake in AvtoVAZ to FSUE NAMI, the German Mercedes, which now belongs to the Avtodom dealer, and Nissan, which was first transferred to NAMI, and then AvtoVAZ. Moreover, at the latter, the Russian auto giant has already launched the production of the new Lada X-Cross 5 together with an Asian partner.
Some of the foreigners decided to leave without the possibility of returning. These are Toyota, whose plant is now managed by Almaz-Antey, which promises to start producing E-Neva trucks and electric vehicles, and Volkswagen: the enterprise was sold to the structure of the Avilon dealer. There was no option to repurchase assets in these transactions.
Scania and MAN truck manufacturers have transferred the assets of their Russian subsidiaries in St. Petersburg to their local dealers. The joint venture of Kamaz and the German Daimler — Daimler Kamaz Rus, where Mercedes trucks were produced — completely came under the control of the former. Now medium-duty trucks «Compass» are assembled on it. Japanese Mazda has sold its stake in the plant in Vladivostok to a joint venture partner, Sollers, which will start producing pickup trucks under its own brand on July 17. Another «cargo» asset — the Isuzu plant in Ulyanovsk — was also acquired by Sollers.