In August, a record number of cars were sold in Russia – 109.7 thousand units

As Kommersant expected, in August sales of new passenger cars exceeded 100 thousand units – 109.7 thousand cars were sold in a month. The top brands remain unchanged: AvtoVAZ cars were most actively bought in the Russian Federation, and sales of brands from China – Chery, Haval and Geely – continue to grow. Against the backdrop of growing model diversity on it, including the expansion of the offer of sedans, the car market will reach the level of 1 million cars by the end of the year at such a pace.

Sales of new cars in August increased by 2.6 times, up to 109.7 thousand cars, Avtostat calculated based on the data of the Electronic Passport. This is 14.7% more than in previous month, which was already a record high since the start of the crisis in 2022. The market continues its recovery trend after the recession due to the suspension of shipments and production of cars in the Russian Federation by most foreign automakers. Moreover, the market in August turned out to be only about 8 thousand cars lower than in the same month of the pre-crisis 2021.

The result of August was close to forecast “Kommersant” based on three weeks of sales data and the overall market situation. Now the demand driver is a gradual increase in the supply of brands and models on the market, including in the sedan segment, which was empty in 2022 with the departure of global players.

In addition, in August, as in July, the situation with prices contributed to the growth in sales: cars became more expensive against the background of an increase in scrappage fees from August 1, as well as a weakening of the ruble, but dealers still had cars at old prices in their warehouses.

Most market participants reported that they had run out of balances by early September. Nevertheless, the market is likely to be fixed at the level of about 100 thousand cars – analysts pointed to a high level of pent-up demand, which began to materialize after almost a year of decline in the market.

According to the results of January-August, 606.95 thousand cars were sold in the Russian Federation, which is 41% more than a year earlier, according to Avtostat. The agency’s forecast assumes an increase in sales to 1 million cars by the end of 2023 – for this, sales in the remaining months should be just at the level of 100 thousand cars.

The brand structure of the market has not changed significantly in recent months and the domestic brand remains the market leader. Lada. According to Avtostat, its sale in August amounted to 28.7 thousand cars. AvtoVAZ itself, which uses data on sales from its own dealers, announced sales at the level of 33.3 thousand vehicles, including their light commercial versions. The concern indicated that the budget Granta remains the most mass-produced model (almost 16.8 thousand units), and the Vesta mass sedan, which, after the start of the crisis, returned to sale only at the end of May 2023, sold almost 6.7 thousand cars , which was the highest since March 2022.

Remains a bestseller among foreign cars Chery (sales growth by 4.5 times, up to 13.4 thousand units). In second place in August was Haval (an increase of 3.6 times, to almost 11 thousand units), which lost this line a month earlier Geely (an increase of almost 2.9 times, up to 8.4 thousand pieces). In the statistics of “AUTOSTAT”, in addition to official supplies by distributors, there are also parallel imports, therefore, in the top 10 of the market Kia (3 thousand pieces), Toyota (2.6 thousand) and Hyundai (2.2 thousand).

Olga Nikitina