Russian market grows by 36.3% in 2023 compared to 2022
- The Russian passenger cars market experienced a small recovery in 2023, after the collapse observed in 2022 mainly due to Russia's involvement in the war in Ukraine and Western countries economic sanctions which resulted in the shutdown production, sales and imports of European, Japanese and Korean cars.
- From 687,370 new passenger cars registered in 2022, the market recorded 937,081 sales in 2023, representing an increase of 36.3%. However, the war in Ukraine is not over and economic sanctions against Russia continue. We are still very far from the figures recorded in previous years, such as 1,666,780 units in 2021 or 1,759,532 in 2019. And even further from the 2012 record with almost 3 million units.
- With the departure of European, Japanese and Korean brands, the Russian market is completely changing its physiognomy. Indeed, if Avtovaz (Lada), which becomes independent again in 2022, returns to its traditional level (with nearly 40% market share), Chinese automobile brands have gradually taken the place of European, Japanese and Korean brands. In 2023, they represented 49% of the Russian market, compared to 18% in 2022 and 7% in 2021. Nearly 460,000 Chinese cars were registered in Russia in 2023. This massive arrival of Chinese cars in Russia made it possible to restock and to restart the market, and to partially “catch up” the missed sales in 2022. It is mainly the Chery brands (45% of Chinese car sales), Great Wall (30%) and Geely (20%) which currently represent almost all sales of Chinese cars in Russia.