AGR plant assembles Chinese Jeland cars in Shushary

Automotive holding AGR has begun unofficial assembly of Chinese brand Jeland cars at the site of the former General Motors plant in Shushary, according to a source familiar with the company«s production plans. Three models are already coming off the assembly line: J6, J7, and J8, which are analogues of the Chery sub-brand Jaecoo.

On February 3, AGR Holding officially announced an expansion of its partnership with Chinese company Defetoo and preparations to launch the JELAND brand in the Russian market. The statement said that serial production is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2026. Company representatives declined to comment on the current assembly, citing a policy of not discussing rumors.

According to RIA Novosti, the first serial Jeland model will be the five-seat crossover Jeland J6. This model has already been certified and received vehicle type approval (OTTS).

On the Russian market, similar models from the Jaecoo sub-brand are already available with the following prices:

• Jaecoo J7 — from 2.769 million rubles ($30,800 at current rates),
• Updated Jaecoo J7 — from 3.159 million rubles ($35,100),
• Jaecoo J8 — from 4.049 million rubles ($45,000 at current rates).

Model J6 is listed on the website as «coming soon».

In the future, the Shushary site may begin production of crossovers from another Chery sub-brand, Omoda, likely under the brand Onives.

Sales of Jaecoo cars in Russia are carried out by LLC Jeyland Rus, which is fully owned by LLC Etigei Rus. The same company owns the domain jelanderus.ru and, together with AGR Holding, is the owner of LLC Tenet Rus, which produces Chery analogues under the Tenet brand in Kaluga. The ultimate owner of Etigei Rus is Chinese company Wuhu Defeitu Automobile Technology Co., Ltd — AGR«s partner under the cooperation agreement.

At the same time, AGR continues production of Solaris cars at the former Hyundai plant on Levashovskoye Shosse in St. Petersburg. However, at the end of 2025, it became known that the plant had stopped assembling Solaris from remaining components of the Korean auto giant, which did not exercise its right to buy back its asset.

Preparations for launching production in Shushary have been active. In December 2025, AGR announced a massive recruitment drive for the site, opening 43 vacancies — from manual labor positions to Chinese language translators. Plans to revive the GM plant under a special investment contract with the city and the Ministry of Industry and Trade were reported back in March 2025.