Now the enterprise in St. Petersburg has received the name “AGR Automobile Plant”. The asset sale transaction was officially completed at the end of last month.
The former Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR) plant, located in the Northern capital, previously produced the Hyundai Solaris and Creta, Kia Rio and Rio X, which were in demand on the Russian car market. The Korean company also owned a motor plant and a site in Shushary, which was previously owned by the American concern GM . In the spring of 2022, the management of the Korean company announced idle time, and later decided to sell local assets.
The corresponding official statement from Hyundai Motor was published in December, at which time the buyer was also named: Art-Finance LLC, the parent company of AGR Automotive Group (“AGR”). Let us remember that in the spring of last year, she also bought the former enterprise of the German concern Volkswagen, which is located in Kaluga. According to the company's official website, AGR is engaged in the sale of cars, spare parts and the organization of service in the Russian Federation.
Now it has become known that the new owner has changed the name of the former Russian Hyundai plant. As reported by Vedomosti with reference to an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, it was renamed “Avtomobilny Zavod AGR” (Avtozavod AGR). It is known that the head of the company is Alexey Kalitsev, who previously held management positions at Hyundai Motor CIS (including the development strategy of the Hyundai and Genesis brands in the Russian Federation).
Let us recall that the conditions under which Hyundai Motor sold its local assets to the Russian company were not disclosed at the official level. It was previously reported that the deal includes a buyback option within two years; By the way, a similar decision (with different deadlines) was made by other foreign manufacturers that left the Russian Federation — Renault, Nissan and Mazda. According to Korean media, the transaction amount was 10 thousand rubles, which is equivalent to approximately 146.2 thousand Korean won or 109 US dollars at the current exchange rate.
The fact that the St. Petersburg automobile plant had resumed work became known at the beginning of this year. Thus, personnel training and equipment maintenance continue at the production site. Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Denis Manturov, said that the conveyor of the St. Petersburg site will be restarted by the middle of this year. At the same time, it is still unknown who will play the role of “industrial partners” of the new owner of the plant.
It became known earlier that at the facilities of another plant in St. Petersburg (previously owned by Nissan) the production of cars will be launched under license under the new Russian brand Xcite. The start of sales of the brand’s first-born is scheduled for spring 2024. By the way, this site was also recently renamed: the new name is “Avtozavod St. Petersburg.”
There is still no official information about who the technical partner is in this project. According to unconfirmed reports, the first model of the new brand will be the Xcite X-Cross 7 crossover. According to rumors, it will turn out to be a badge-engineered Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max. By the way, this crossover is now sold in Russia, but it is imported from China.