what is this new brand with famous models?

In Russia, a new car brand will soon appear, Solaris. Four models are planned in the coming months and they owe a lot to… Hyundai!

If the name of Hyundai Solaris It doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s normal, this model is special for the Russian car market, like the interior variant of the Accent sedan.

Hyundai and Kia, the biggest losers of the Russian invasion

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Solaris was, almost every year, the best-selling model in the country, rarely competing for the first place with Lada Granta and Kia Rio. But, if Hyundai and Kia still sold 378,000 cars in Russia in 2021In the last regular market year, both have left the country.
In January, Hyundai formalized the sale of its assets and its assembly plant in St for the Russian company, which recorded a loss of about 196 million euros! The Korean group is the last to pack its bags, all manufacturers have gradually ceased operations in the country since 2022.
Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan, Lexus, and even Skoda are gone, but The most notable departure is undoubtedly that of Renault, which at the time owned Russia’s largest car manufacturer, Lada. The former Moscow plant, which previously assembled Renault Sandero, Duster, Kaptur and Arkana, has been producing. Chinese licensed SUVs…
A few weeks ago, we shared the original story with you: Russia will continue to illegally assemble the Citroen C5 Aircross in the country, from prototype equipment exported from China. A similar situation reaches our ears today, and this time it concerns…Hyundai.

Solaris, the new Russian brand to forget Hyundai

AGR Automotive, which bought the Russian operations of Hyundai and Kia, is preparing to launch new brand: Solaris. Although the name directly refers to the late Russian accent, its future models will be based entirely on Hyundai and Kia models.
The new operator of the Saint Petersburg factory obviously refrained from mentioning the name of the Korean group in its press release, which would certainly not agree to the sale of its cars under a different brand, what’s more, it does not belong to it.
We still don’t know how Solaris will bring back Korean parts and tools.but it may be, as in the case of Citroën, that the models in question are shipped with equipment from China or one of the CIS countries, and finally assembled in Saint Petersburg.
Four models will be sold, and will feature a new Solaris-specific logo : HS sedan (Hyundai Solaris), le crossover HC (Hyundai Creta), the KRS sedan (Kia Rio) and the KRX station wagon (Kia KX Cross).
It is offered in petrol only (1.4L and 1.6L of 100, 121 and 123 hp), their prices will vary between €20,000 (HS/Solaris) and €25,000 (HC/Creta). AGR Automotive will be based on the network of thirty merchants to distribute brands, most of which are former Hyundai and Kia distributors.