Hyundai Solaris and Creta (pictured) will return to the market with a new name
Photo: Oleg GOLD
Although… like with someone else. Almost the same. On Thursday it became known that Solaris cars will soon go on sale. They will be produced at the production centers of the former Hyundai plant near St. Petersburg. It was recently bought by the Russian company Art-Finance (owned by the former director of the distributor Avilon). Last year it bought the Volkswagen plant in the Kaluga region, but production has not yet started there.
The new owners didn’t think twice. We take as a basis the name of one of the most popular models. And they made it the name of the brand. Market experts have already reviewed photographs of new cars. It turned out that these were our old friends:
Solaris HS is a Hyundai Solaris
Solaris HC is a Hyundai Creta
Solaris KRS is Kia Rio
Solaris KRX is Kia Rio
The production capacity of the old Hyundai plant was 200 thousand cars per year. The models were among the most popular on the Russian market in the segment of inexpensive foreign cars. As experts explain, at the time of the suspension of production, the plant had spare parts for 70 thousand cars. New models will be manufactured from them.
– In fact, Solaris cars differ from their predecessors only by their emblems. The vehicle warranty will be 3 years or 100,000 kilometers, whichever comes first. There is no information yet on equipment levels and prices,” says Maxim Kadakov, automotive expert and editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine.
According to the expert, there will surely be buyers for the updated Solaris. These cars have been manufactured for many years. There are spare parts for these cars, there are distributors, there are all the technological cards and tools for their maintenance.
Now it’s just Solaris, no Hyundai. Photo: AGR website
In fact, the task of the new owners is to sell the rest. As they say, don’t let good things go to waste. But it’s hard to say what will happen when vehicle kits run out. The operation was carried out at a “symbolic price” and with the possibility of repurchase within a period of two years. That is, the Koreans hope to return to the Russian market. And if they do not return, the owners of the plant will agree to the arrival of a new partner, probably from the Middle Kingdom. It is definitely not possible to completely replace all original spare parts with self-produced parts.
For example, at the former Volkswagen plant, which the same group bought last spring, they plan to start assembling Chinese Chery cars in the near future. There the transaction was carried out at the real price: the new owner paid 125 million dollars and without the possibility of repurchase.
By the way, as the Ministry of Industry and Trade recently stated, industrial partners have already been found for almost all “abandoned” areas of the automobile industry. Therefore, domestic production volumes will gradually increase.
ABOUT THIS THEME
It is known what Solaris will be like, which is assembled at the former Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg.
A photo of the new Solaris was posted on the website of the former Hyundai plant in St. Petersburg. [подробности]
