Hyundai has started to lay off employees at its factory in St Petersburg, Russia which has been idle since March, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The plant had been responsible for producing a number of Hyundai and Kia models and has the capacity to build some 200,000 vehicles annually. At its peak, the plant was home to 2,600 employees. Hyundai has not yet said how many of these employees will be cut.
“Owing to the continued suspension of production, Hyundai Motor is taking steps to optimize its staff numbers in Russia,” Hyundai’s Russian unit said in a statement.
The future of the factory itself remains in limbo but Auto News says reports from South Korea suggest that Hyundai may sell the plant.
In the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Hyundai and Kia were slower to pause production and deliveries than many other automakers. This was likely because the two companies were weighing up their options in what is an important market for both of them.
Read: Chinese Cars Now Account For Over 30% Of New Sales In Russia
In fact, Russia accounted for 8 per cent of Kia’s global sales in 2021 and five per cent of Hyundai’s global sales. What’s more, Hyundai and Kia had a 22.5 per cent share of Russia’s total vehicle market in 2021, selling a total of 373,000 vehicles there in the year before the war broke out. Hyundai was so committed to Russia that it purchased a decommissioned General Motors factory in St Petersburg in late 2020. It had also been manufacturing the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Palisade, and Tucson in Russia.
With most Western automakers fleeing Russia, the number of Chinese cars sold throughout the country has jumped. In January 2022, Chinese brands had a 9.6 per cent share of Russia’s new car market but by the end of November, that figure had jumped to 31.3 per cent.