Will Hyundai return to Russia?

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Will Hyundai return to Russia?

Published: 10 Mar. 2025, 17:43 Updated: 09 Jul. 2025, 15:38

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Hyundai Motor employees work at its plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2021. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

[NEWS IN FOCUS]

Washington’s determination to swiftly end Russia's war against Ukraine is raising the prospect of Hyundai Motor making a return to Russia, which has been largely swamped by a flood of Chinese cars in the last three years of its absence.

The Korean automaker is launching quick moves, signaling a re-entry with the two-year buyback option for its factory slated to expire in December and a desperate need to diversify its export portfolio amid U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of 25 percent auto tariffs.

Hyundai Motor recently reregistered the trademark “HYUNDAI” with Rospatent, or Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property, some three years since it halted the Russian plant in March 2022. Russian government legally cancels trademarks if they are not used for three years.

It followed 17 applications related to the trademark of its Genesis vehicles and auto parts submitted last August.

Kia Russia & CIS also opened up a hiring post in the local job post portal to recruit experienced workers for technological consultants and dealer marketing.

Hyundai has not confirmed its return, adding that “nothing has been decided at the moment.”

Hyundai Motor's previous manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Hyundai’s heyday in Russia
Before the war, Hyundai had been a flourishing auto brand in Russia backed by its Europe-dedicated models like Solaris small-size sedan and Kia’s Rio hatchback.

The combined share of Hyundai and Kia in the Russian market stood at some 27.5 percent in August 2021 before the war, becoming the No. 1 brand, beating Russia’s Lada. Its annual sales surpassed 370,000 units that year, making up 7 percent of the automaker’s total overseas sales.

“Russia is a market that Hyundai cannot easily give up on, and it is proven with history that Hyundai was one of the very few last manufacturing firms that decided on an exit from Russia after the war,” said Jeong Min-hyeon, head researcher of the Russia team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

“Russia, too, will desperately welcome Hyundai’s return when it must attract quality manufacturing investment and has to expand cooperation with Eastern countries rather than West,” Jeong added. “The negotiation will likely launch soon.”

Hyundai in December 2023 sold off its plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, to Russia's Art-Finance for 10,000 rubles, or $112, which incorporates a two-year buyback option, enabling the automaker to repurchase the facility within two years of the initial sale.

Hyundai, however, does need some distinguishing strategies after the return as a big part of the market has been swallowed by a few Chinese brands.

Of 10 top-selling auto brands in Russia, six are from China, occupying second to seventh place. Hyundai and Kia moved down to No. 8 and 9, with Toyota Motor at 10.

Chung Mong-koo, left, the late honorary chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are pictured in the Solaris sedan at the automaker's plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2010. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Global automakers walking on eggshells
Hyundai is not alone in having a close eye on Russia, which is highly accepting of foreign auto brands.

Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo expressed that he wouldn't rule out a return to the Russian market when calculating the business perspective.

“We’re business people. When we see a business opportunity, we’ll try to grasp it,” he said during an interview with the Financial Times. “We have an option: Let’s see how things go.”

Renault in 2022 sold its majority stake in AvtoVAZ for a symbolic 1 ruble, with a six-year buyback option.

Toyota Motor held a private meeting with Russia’s former dealerships in Dubai in February and scheduled a second meeting for March, according to Russian online news publication Mash on Telegram.

In terms of return to Russia, Hyundai is certainly in a superior situation compared to other global automakers, like General Motors, who exited the country with no other buyback option.

“If a cease-fire deal is agreed and the West lifts sanctions toward Russia, Hyundai will be the first auto brand to return to the Russian market while European and Japanese makers won’t able to make a comeback shortly,” said Lee Jae-il, an analyst from Eugene Investment & Securities.

“The normalization of Hyundai’s Russian plant will ramp up around 2 percent of its net profit based on this year’s earnings consensus.”

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]