Hyundai may be the next to lose the right to buy back its plant in January 2026.
The Japanese automaker Mazda, which held a stake in a joint venture in the Far East until 2022, has lost the right to buy back its assets, Reuters reports.
When exiting the Russian automotive market in 2022, global automotive groups — French Renault, Korean Hyundai, American Ford Motor, Japanese Nissan, and German Mercedes-Benz — mostly sold their factories for symbolic amounts, agreeing on the right to buy them back within a few years.
Mazda, which sold its 50% stake in the joint venture Mazda Sollers Manufacturing RUS in October 2022, agreed on the right to buy it back within three years. This period expired in October, but Mazda did not request the implementation of the option, said Sollers — the former partner of the Japanese automaker.
Hyundai may be the next to lose the right to buy back its plant in January 2026.
The plant in Vladivostok was successfully relaunched in 2023, and it is currently producing intercity and tourist buses under the Sollers brand, the company reported. "Sollers Group has not received any offers or requests from Mazda regarding the implementation of the option, and under current conditions, we do not see the need for this," said a comment from Sollers.
Most Russian plants abandoned by global automotive groups after 2022 are producing Chinese cars under their own brands, without disclosing the names of their partners.
In 2023, Sollers announced the launch of bus production under a local brand with a volume of up to 1,500 units per year. The buses produced in Vladivostok are similar to Chinese Ankai.
