AGR Group localizing assembly of Omoda crossovers at former GM plant in St. Petersburg - paper
MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - AGR Group is preparing to launch production of Omoda crossovers at its plant in Shushary, St. Petersburg, which was previously owned by U.S. carmaker GM, in 2026, business daily Vedomosti, citing four sources, reported on Monday.
Chinese automaker Chery is thus moving assembly of its Omoda sub-brand from Kaliningrad's Avtotor, where vehicle type approvals for the production of Omoda C5 and C7 crossovers were registered last year, to the AGR plant.
However, the paper reported a spokesman for technical regulation agency Rosstandart as saying that the current vehicle type approvals for Omoda automobiles do not have any information about manufacturer AGR and applications to amend the documents have not been received.
There were 870 Omoda vehicles with Russian VIN numbers, meaning assembled at Avtotor, sold in Russia in 2025, according to a Gazprombank estimate cited by the paper.
AGR Group produces automobiles under the Solaris brand (Hyundai and Kia) at the former Hyundai plant in Sestroretsk, St. Petersburg and also plans to launch assembly in Shushary this year of another Chery sub-brand, Jaecoo. Vedomosti, citing the State Industry Information System, said that Jaecoo J7 and J8 crossovers assembled at AGR's plant in St. Petersburg had already earned 1,850 localization points last summer.
The paper reported one of its sources as saying that the AGR plant in Shushary is already commissioning equipment for the production of the Omoda C5. Another source said assembly of these cars is being moved from Avtotor because of the AGR plant's more convenient location and the previously reached agreement to produce Jaecoo vehicles at the plant.
There are three Omoda models available in Russia, the C5 and C7 crossovers and the S5 sedan. Sales of Omoda cars in Russia fell 42% to 28,800 in 2025, including 21,200 C5s, Avtostat data showed. The brand was the eleventh most popular in the country last year.
