South Korean automobile manufacturers Kia and Hyundai will completely exit their business in Russia by the end of 2023.
Source. This is reported by the Mash telegram channel, citing informed sources.
According to them, the companies' showrooms are selling off their stock with a "million ruble markup" and are preparing to sell Chinese cars. Popular models are no longer on sale.
Popular Hyundai models such as Solaris, Elanta, and Sonata have also disappeared from showrooms. All that's left are jeeps with an inflated price tag.
Due to the sanctions, Kia and Hyundai can no longer supply Russia, and the bet on parallel imports did not meet expectations, sources say.
Kia's management thought about leaving the Russian market in the fall of 2022. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the cars were assembled in St. Petersburg at the facilities of the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus plant and the Kaliningrad-based Avtotor.
In turn, Hyundai Motors, which also stopped producing cars in Russia after February 24, 2022, sold its plant in St. Petersburg to an unnamed Russian company, but reserved the right to buy it back within two years.
As a result, according to Mash, dealer networks of South Korean brands in Russia are changing their signs and gradually switching to selling Chinese cars. For example, Hyundai showrooms have been renamed Baic. According to showroom employees, the Chinese are not in demand because buyers consider them too expensive. Many employees do not want to sell Chinese cars and quit.
In the first eight months of 2023, China effectively monopolized car imports to Russia, with the share of Chinese cars reaching 92%.
Background. As a reminder, Norway has banned entry for cars with Russian license plates, followed by Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.