The used car market declined in November

In November, sales of used cars showed a decline for the first time this year – so far by a symbolic 0.5%. Only Lada cars continue to be actively sold, and the most outdated models, while sales of Toyota, Kia and Hyundai foreign cars popular in the secondary segment are declining. However, in December the used car market is likely to experience the traditional pre-New Year revival.

The used car market in November decreased by 0.5%, to 458 thousand units, Autostat calculated. Sales are showing negative dynamics for the first time in annual terms, although they have been declining in monthly terms since September. The November result was also lower than the previous month – by 6.3%. And this is still not the worst sales result in 2023: at the beginning of the year, sales in the secondary market were below 400 thousand cars per month.

Demand in the segment could be cooled by an increase in the Central Bank rate: used cars are also sold on credit. It is the rate increase in September and high car prices slowed down the dynamics of the secondary segment.

Among brands, however, sales of the domestic Lada, the traditional leader of the secondary market, continue to grow.

Thus, sales of used Lada cars are growing by 5.6%, to almost 111.2 thousand units. Sales also increased in November Chevrolet – by 1.7%, to almost 18 thousand units. The latter, unlike Lada, did not have any of its models in the top 10 of the secondary market. But among the bestsellers of the domestic brand, there are mainly the most budget models, the production of which has already ceased, for example, the Lada Samara or the even “older” classic Lada 2110.

Resales of Korean cars were relatively stable in November Kia: sales of used cars of the brand decreased by 0.7%, to 24.7 thousand units. A deeper decline occurred in other most popular foreign cars – Toyota (by 9.6%, to 50.4 thousand units), Hyundai (by 5.2%, to 24.2 thousand) and Nissan (by 9.2%, to 22.7 thousand).

Based on the results of January-November, the used car market is still in the black – by 19.9%, amounting to 5.3 million units. At the same time, in December the number of transactions traditionally increases compared to the previous month, reflecting the revival in the new car market.

Olga Nikitina