At today's meeting of the Board of Directors, a plan for the sale of the HMMR enterprise in St. Petersburg was approved, the Russian company Art- Finance.”
The Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR) enterprise located in the Northern capital has been idle since the spring of 2022. Let us remind you that since then the plant has been partially restarted to produce parts, welding and painting bodies for Hyundai Solaris; they were sent to the assembly line of a plant in Almaty (Kazakhstan), where the final assembly of cars intended not for the Russian market was carried out.
In the photo: HMMR plant
The downtime was extended several times, the last one — until December 31, 2023 — became known at the beginning of this month. The current staff of the enterprise consists of 502 employees (until the spring of 2022, 2,537 people worked at the Russian Hyundai plant).
Rumors that the Korean manufacturer intends to sell its St. Petersburg site have appeared in the media for a long time; in September of this year they were confirmed by the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov. Now the Hyundai Motor company has also released an official statement, and it also named the buyer of local assets.
The future owner of the HMMR plant will be Art-Finance LLC, a structure that is part of the large auto dealer holding company Avilon. Let us remind you that earlier the same company bought a former enterprise of the German concern Volkswagen, located in Kaluga (for now this site is still in idle mode).
According to an official statement on Hyundai's press website, at a meeting of the Board of Directors held today, a plan for the sale of the HMMR enterprise in St. Petersburg was approved. It is noted that now the management of the Korean company is finalizing the details of the transaction with the Art-Finance company; no details are provided about it.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation noted that the deal to sell Russian assets would include a buyback option within two years (a similar decision was made by other foreign manufacturers — Renault, Nissan and Mazda). This item was also reported in Yonhap News today. Also, according to the Korean news agency, the transaction amount was 10,000 rubles (at the current exchange rate, equivalent to approximately 144 thousand Korean won or 111 US dollars).
The Russian Hyundai plant was launched in 2010, its production capacity is designed to produce over 200 thousand cars per year. Previously, the production of popular models in the Russian Federation was established here — Hyundai Solaris and Creta, as well as Kia Rio and Rio X. It is worth noting that the list of local assets of the Korean company includes a motor plant, as well as the St. Petersburg site, previously owned by the American concern GM (expansion was planned production in the Russian Federation).
According to the official statement from Hyundai, in Russia, owners of cars of these brands will continue to be provided with service services, including after-sales service.