According to calculations by Autostat analysts, who rely on registration data, in September 2023 the share of official imports amounted to 44 percent. This is more than double what it was a year ago. In total, passenger cars imported from abroad, including “parallel” imports, accounted for 55 percent of sales, while a year ago this figure was only 28 percent.
Over the year, the share of cars imported into Russia via alternative routes increased from eight to 11 percent.
While imports showed a sharp increase, locally assembled cars, on the contrary, lost ground. The share of foreign cars produced in Russia on the market fell almost threefold – from 31 percent in September 2022 to 11 percent in September 2023.
Sales of domestic brands of cars have dropped noticeably compared to foreign cars. In September last year their share was 41 percent, and at the end of the same month of this year – 34 percent.
According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS), 414,726 passenger cars have been imported into Russia since the beginning of the year. This is three and a half times more than in the same period in 2022. Moreover, almost all of these cars were produced by Chinese car brands, which are making record profits in Russia. Last year, the seven largest brands from China earned a total of 346 billion rubles.
Chinese rogues: real all-terrain vehicles from the Middle Kingdom
