Hyundai's Russia business starts car exports to Georgia, Tunisia

MOSCOW: Hyundai Motor's Russian plant will start exporting Russian-assembled cars to Georgia and Tunisia this month, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Hyundai, the world's fifth-biggest automaker, will ship the Solaris, its flagship model in Russia, to Tunisia and its Accent and Creta models to Georgia.

It started producing its Creta model in a Saint Petersburg plant in August.

It also plans to sell the Creta in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia and countries in the Middle East. Hyundai's Russia business has exported 2,500 cars so far this year to some ex-Soviet nations and other countries.

Ford's Russian business began exporting Russian-assembled cars to Belarus in June, partly to offset weak demand in the Russian domestic market.

Russia's auto industry is forecast to fall 10 percent in 2016, following the impact of the country's economic crisis brought on by the collapse in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.

New car sales in Russia fell 16.6 percent year on year to 109,410 vehicles in July, after a 12.5 percent fall in June.