Hyundai RB sedan (Solaris) enters production in Russia

Hyundai Motor Company announced that the RB sedan (Solaris) has entered production at its Russian plant in Saint Petersburg making it the first foreign automaker to operate a full-cycle manufacturing plant.

The production of the car will only be for domestic use. This plant employs 1,300 workers and will produce 105,000 units of the Solaris sedan.

A naming contest was held in Russia last year to find a suitable name for the RB sedan. The Solaris got picked from a lot of 27,000 entries.

The Russia specification model comes with longer lasting headlamps (as Russians drive with the lights turned on during the day).

To tackle the Russian winter, rear heating duct, 4.0L washer fluid reservoir with fluid level sensor prompting refill when necessary and 60Ah battery for good performance in cold weather are standard features. The wiper deicer, front seat warmers and heated outside mirrors are also available.

Standard front/rear mud guards that prevent the car from being contaminated by elements like dry calcium chloride for snow removal as well as optional Emergency Stop Signal (ESS) which automatically triggers the emergency hazard lights in the event of a panic stop to reduce the risk of rear end crashes are offered.

We expect the Indian spec model to have long lasting horns, ECU tuned for inferior fuel, suspension tweaked to handle craters and crests, and tires optimized for higher fuel economy.

We recently brought you the exclusive spy pics of the RB sedan caught testing in Chennai. If the production process is perfected in Russia, we can expect Hyundai to initiate the same process in India shortly. We expect the RB sedan to be in Hyundai showrooms with both petrol and diesel options by June 2011.

Hyundai should offer AT on the RB Verna and hopes to improve its performance in inching closer to the Honda City.