Sales of passenger cars in Russia reached 110 thousand units in September

Sales of passenger cars in the Russian Federation in September reached 110 thousand units, which is only 2 thousand lower than in September of the pre-crisis 2021. But against the backdrop of rising car prices, the market still slowed down its growth rate compared to the summer, showing a result slightly higher than in August. Even if stable demand of 100 thousand cars remains in the remaining months, by the end of the year only 1 million cars will be sold in Russia. The budget Lada is still the sales leader, but the main market share has already gone to cars from China.

Sales of new passenger cars in September increased 2.5 times, to 110.4 thousand units, follows from Avtostat calculations (based on data from JSC PPK and taking into account its own segmentation). This is 0.6% higher than a month earlier, when it was Sales 109.7 thousand cars, although before that the market recovery rate month-on-month was at 15% and higher. Over the past months, the market has been updating its sales volume record since the beginning of the crisis in 2022. Compared to September of the pre-crisis 2021, sales were lower by only 1.8 thousand cars. The gap to the 2021 figures of several thousand cars has remained since the summer.

The slowdown in market demand growth in September is due to rise in price cars due to the increase in scrap collection and the weakening of the ruble, which began in August, while the simultaneous depletion of warehouses of cars at old prices.

Already in August, the weighted average price for a car for the first time passed for 3 million rubles. – both against the backdrop of an increase in price lists, and against the backdrop of a continuing shortage of supply in the mass-market car segment, which in fact remains filled only with the Lada brand. At the same time, sales are growing in more expensive segments, represented by a wide range of models from China. Experts expected the trend of rising prices to continue in September.

AvtoVAZ continues to maintain leadership in the market: according to Avtostat, its sales doubled in September, to almost 35 thousand cars. At the same time, the share of the brand decreased over the year by 8 percentage points, to 32%. At the same time, brands from China continue to grow in sales. Chery is in the lead, sales of which are growing almost 3.2 times, to 12.1 thousand units. Haval increased sales by 3.5 times, to 11.1 thousand cars, Geely – by 3.3 times, to 9.2 thousand.

In the Autostat statistics, in addition to official supplies by distributors, there are also parallel imports, so the top 10 also includes brands that have ceased production in the Russian Federation. In past months it was Kia, Toyota and Hyundai, but in September Hyundai dropped out of the ranking. Last month, 2.3 thousand cars with Kia and Toyota nameplates were sold each.

The passenger car market in January-September grew by 51.1%, to 717.3 thousand units. The Autostat forecast assumes that in 2023 the market will be approximately at the level of 1 million units – this is realistic, taking into account the current sales rate of about 100 thousand cars per month. Analysts indicatedthat at least the level of pent-up demand for cars is quite high. At the same time, rising prices for cars traditionally lead to a weakening of demand until the market adapts to new prices.

Olga Nikitina