The Russian vehicle market was up by 120.5% in September versus last year, according to local industry data sources.

The Russian market is rebounding this year from depleted levels last year after Western brands ended their Russia market operations in 2022, due to Ukraine-related trade sanctions. Chinese brands have subsequently filled the gap with soaring volumes in 2023.

The long established Russia market data source – the Association of European Businesses (AEB) – is now supplementing its sales data with an additional source. Starting from July 2023, the AEB data has been supplemented with sales data provided by PPC JSC (Passport industrial consulting), including, among other things, sales volumes not included in AEB statistics. This, the AEB maintains, will make it possible to give a ‘more objective assessment of the state of Russia’s new car sales market and its dynamics’.

According to the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, based on data from automakers and official importers, light vehicle sales for the three quarters of the year increased by 26.1% to 638,678 units.

Russia domestic AvtoVAZ brand Lada leads the car market this year with sales up 96% to 242,552 units. It recently started discounting the Granta model to stimulate sales and said it would sell at cost price (Lada launches online car sales at cost price). However, the second third and fourth spots are taken by Chery, Haval and Geely respectively with their sales up by around 300% versus last year. A similar soaring rate of growth for the Chinese OEMs and brands is evident in the published (PPC JSC ) September market numbers, with the total market posted as up 120.5% to 116,324 units.

Alexey Kalitsev, Chairman of the AEB’s Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said in a statement: “Over nine months of this year, we have observed a steady growth trend in the new car sales market, which indicates its high potential and gradual recovery despite rising prices and serious volatility in the ruble exchange rate.”