The Kazakh company Astana Motors and the manufacturer of automotive components Youngsan (Republic of Korea) have officially announced the launch of mass production of car seats at the new Almaty Autoparts Production plant in the Industrial Zone of Almaty. The volume of joint investments in the project at the first stage of localization amounted to 4 billion tenge.
The opening ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Committee of Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan Azamat Panbayev, Deputy Akim of Almaty Alisher Abdykadyrov, Chairman of Youngsan Park Jong Bom and founder of Astana Motors Nurlan Smagulov..
In December 2024, the company released a pilot batch of foam seat forms, was certified and approved by Hyundai Motor Company (HMC, Republic of Korea) for the supply of products for the production of Hyundai passenger cars.
As compliance with the requirements of the international standard and the level of qualification of employees was confirmed, the company concluded an agreement with the state on industrial assembly to perform technological operations for the production of seats.
Astana Motors is strengthening the manufacturer's position in the market. We thank the Head of State, the Government of Kazakhstan and the Akimat of Almaty for their support of the industrial sector. The President noted the important role of private investors in the development of the country's economy and stressed that enterprises should make reasonable counter-commitments to preserve jobs and modernize production. We understand the full responsibility of our commitments and are moving towards the goal of localizing the lion's share of automotive components and coming to the processing of raw materials in order to be less dependent on external factors, to educate a generation of qualified engineers in the automotive industry, and to promote the development of SMEs. We also thank Youngsan for the trust, technology, and experience they transfer to us and believe in the success of our cooperation," said Beknur Nesipbayev, CEO of Astana Motors.
Youngsan Chairman Park Jong-beom, in turn, expressed gratitude to Astana Motors "for its strong energy and firm faith in the Kazakh industry, along with constant efforts that have created new opportunities for cooperation and development.".
"We see the result of our work based on the solid foundation created between Astana Motors and Youngsan. This is just the first step. Observing the rapid changes in the automotive industry in the world and the CIS, we will constantly work in this direction. I would like to emphasize that we need continued support from the Government of Kazakhstan in terms of infrastructure and many other areas to support the automotive industry. I am also glad to see all the young engineers at our factory. These engineers represent the future of the Kazakh industry," said Park Jong-beom, Chairman of Youngsan.
The capacity of Almaty Autoparts Production is 100 thousand sets of seats per year. The company has already started manufacturing car seats for the small-scale production of the Hyundai Tucson model at the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant. In the near future, the plant will launch the production of seats for Hyundai Santa Fe.
In the future, Almaty Autoparts Production plans to supply seats to the multi—brand plant Astana Motors Manufacturing Kazakhstan (opening in the second quarter of 2025), as well as to other automobile plants.
As of today, Astana Motors has reached agreements with companies from the People's Republic of China Chery Automobile and Great Wall Motor Company (GWM) on the use of Almaty Autoparts Production automotive components in the production of Chery Tiggo 2 Pro, Haval Jolion and Tank 300 models at the Astana Motors Manufacturing Kazakhstan plant.
Almaty Autoparts Production specialists have mastered technological operations for the production of foam molds.
In 2026, the plant will enter the second stage of localization, which includes sewing seat upholstery from the supplied raw materials. The company intends to invest an additional 720 million tenge to build and equip sewing workshops, as well as train staff.
In the production facilities of the Almaty Autoparts Production plant, with an area of 4850 sq. m. An automated production line for polyurethane foam products (foam molds) has been installed and is operating. The line includes a filling robot, a conveyor with mold carriers and heating units, as well as a roller vacuum crusher.
In the manufacture of seats, the plant uses equipment, raw materials and components from the Republic of Korea, including liquid raw materials for the production of foam molds; embedded elements, as well as components such as frames, seat upholstery, plastic elements.
The plant has 65 employees. At the second stage of the company's development, with the commissioning of the seat cladding workshop, the number of employees at Almaty Autoparts Production will increase to 95 people. The company's employees were trained by experienced Youngsan specialists and, together with Korean engineers, participated in the installation and configuration of the equipment.
It should be recalled that Astana Motors has organized an automobile cluster in the Industrial Zone of Almaty, including plants Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan, Astana Motors Manufacturing Kazakhstan, a logistics hub and a technopark for the production of automotive components.
Astana Motors will continue to expand production and deepen localization of cars and automotive components. In particular, the Company plans to launch the production of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, mufflers (exhaust system), floor coverings.