Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg extended the downtime until the end of winter

Factory Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR) in St. Petersburg will extend the downtime until the end of February, informs TASS with reference to the order of the company’s management.

“We inform you about the announcement of downtime in February 2023. February 20 and February 21 will be working days for all employees of our company,” the document says.

The company itself declined to comment to the agency, while the company’s employees pointed to the continuation of the cuts that began last year.

Company Hyundai in St. Petersburg suspended its work in March 2022 due to the special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and the subsequent difficulties with the delivery of components. The plant repeatedly extended downtime, and in December the company began to gradually reduce employees. The total strength of the HMMR team before the reductions was about 2,500 people.

As wrote at the end of December, Vedomosti, the plant began to stamp parts, weld and paint bodies for Hyundai Solaris, which the company sends to its plant in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan) to assemble machines there.

Until 2022, Hyundai was one of the most massive manufacturers of foreign cars on the Russian market. In 2021, 234,000 vehicles rolled off the conveyor of the Korean concern’s plant in St. Petersburg, of which 71,000 each are Solaris and Creta models. The rest of the volume fell on Kia Rio.

Against the backdrop of the start of a special operation in Ukraine, some foreign car manufacturers announced the cessation of supplies to Russia, some companies also suspended the work of factories in the country. In particular, Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz left the Russian market, InfinitiHyundai, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota and others. Later, the Ministry of Industry and Trade included a number of car brands, including BMW, Toyota, Land Rover, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce, in the list of goods for parallel import.