Hyundai Motor is considering producing affiliate KIA ‘s vehicles at the assembly plant currently being built in St. Petersburg, Hyundai Motor CIS’ general director Karry Cho said.
“We are considering this possibility, but no decision has been made yet,” Cho told the Prime Tass news agency, adding that a final decision would depend on consumer demand.
Hyundai started building the EUR330m plant in 2008 and plans to finish construction in 2010. The plant is expected to annually produce 100,000 cars.
The automaker recently began building the Hyundai Tucson at its Kia plant in Slovakia, which began operations assembling the affiliate’s Ceed range, designed specially for Europe. Kia later added its Sportage small SUV, built on the same platform and sharing some parts with the Tucson.
Both brands will soon also share the newer Czech Republic plant, opened to build the i30, Hyundai’s equivalent of the Ceed. That plant already makes gearboxes for Kia in Slovakia and will begin assembling a small Kia MPV later.
More details here: just-auto visits Hyundai’s new Czech factory
