The Russian auto market grew 120.5% year-on-year in September, according to local industry sources.
The Russian market is recovering this year from depleted levels last year after Western brands ceased operations in the Russian market in 2022 due to trade sanctions related to Ukraine. Chinese brands have subsequently filled this gap with strong sales growth in 2023.
A long-established source of data on the Russian market, the Association of European Businesses (AEB), is now supplementing its sales data with an additional source. Since July 2023, AEB data has been supplemented with sales data provided by PPK JSC (Industrial Consulting Passport), including, but not limited to, sales volumes not included in AEB statistics. This, the AEB believes, will make it possible to give "a more objective assessment of the state of the Russian new car sales market and its dynamics."
According to the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, based on data from automakers and official importers, passenger car sales for three quarters of the year grew by 26.1% to 638,678 units.
AvtoVAZ's Russian Lada brand is leading the car market this year with sales up 96% to 242,552 units. It recently began cutting prices on the Granta model to stimulate sales and said it would sell at cost (Lada launches online sales of cars at cost). However, second, third and fourth places are occupied by Chery, Haval and Geely respectively, their sales increased by about 300% compared to last year. Similar rapid growth rates for Chinese OEMs and brands are evident in PPCAO's September market figures, with total market volume up 120.5% to 116,324 units.
