Business Korea website reports, “Hyundai Motor Co. is pondering when to restart the operations of its automobile plant in St. Petersburg amid Russia’s prolonged invasion of Ukraine. Experts predict that it will not be easy for the Korean automaker to recover losses even if the situation calms down, as the value of the Russian currency has plunged and the possibility of Russian default is looming large. Some observers say that a long-term shutdown will be inevitable due to the possibility of Russia’s default.”
The Russian plant produced 234,150 cars in 2021, exceeding Hyundai’s production goals by 17%. Even during the worst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the plant operated at 109.6% of production goals.
“Hyundai Motor Group has been increasing investment in Russia as a market that can replace China. It acquired a former General Motors plant in the region in 2020 to scale up its annual production by 100,000 units beginning from next year.”
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