The Solaris brand was registered by the new owner of the former Hyundai site, AGR. Under this brand, the plant assembles the Hyundai Solaris, Creta, Kia Rio and Rio X models, which were renamed HS, HC, KRS and KRX, respectively. The AGR press service reports that since the plant restarted at the beginning of 2024, 5.1 thousand cars have rolled off the assembly line, three thousand of which in the first quarter. Production volumes are growing.
The first batch of Solaris was shipped to dealers in early March – the cars were distributed among car dealerships in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Volga region, the Caucasus, the Urals, Siberia and other regions. Avilon, which sells Solaris models, among others, said that sedans (Solaris HS and KRS) are of interest to companies providing taxi and car sharing services, which purchase small quantities of cars on lease. In percentage terms, legal entities are the main category of Solaris buyers, 65 percent of them. Individuals account for only 35 percent of sales.
Who is buying Solaris cars at inflated prices and why? Official prices for Solaris cars have appeared. In Russia, there is a rush demand for new Solaris: the first batch was sold out in a day
Solaris are in great demand, largely because Russians have a high level of trust in these cars. In addition, they are relatively inexpensive, but still more expensive than the original Hyundai and Kia models at the time of the departure of Korean brands from the Russian market. So, for example, if you believe the official price lists, a basic Solaris HS can be bought for just over two million rubles. At dealers it costs more – the markup can exceed a hundred thousand rubles.
“AGR Automobile Plant” – this is the name the former Hyundai plant now bears – includes stamping, welding, painting and assembly shops, and Solaris cars are produced in a full production cycle. The car warranty is three years or 100 thousand kilometers, whichever comes first.
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