Mazda is the first foreign automaker to lose the right to buy out its plant in Russia

Mazda Motor has lost the right to buy out its 50% stake in a joint venture in Russia, as it did not exercise it within the specified period. About writes Reuters cites Sollers, the former Russian partner of the Japanese automaker.

After the war in Ukraine broke out, global automakers left the Russian market in droves. They sold their assets to local companies for symbolic sums, retaining the option to buy them back within a few years.

Mazda sold its stake in the former Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus (MSMR) plant in Vladivostok, where passenger cars were produced, to PJSC Sollers for one euro in October 2022. It was possible to buy it back for the same amount within three years.

"The Sollers Group has not received any offers or requests from Mazda to exercise the option, and in the current environment we do not see the need to do so," Sollers said in a statement in response to the agency's request.

The Vladivostok car plant was successfully restarted in 2023, and its facilities are now producing buses under the Sollers brand.

Mazda is the first foreign automaker to lose the right to buy back its Russian plant, Reuters reports. Hyundai may be the next to lose the right to buy back its plant in January 2026.

• In September 2025, The Korea Times wrote that LG, Hyundai, Kia, and Samsung are preparing to resume business in Russia in the event of successful peace talks on the war in Ukraine.