(Reuters) – Car sales in Russia leapt by 170.4% year-on-year in April, analytical agency Autostat said on Thursday, with the country’s bruised car market staging a partial recovery from the soaring prices and reduced deliveries of the same month last year.
Russia’s auto industry had been heavily reliant on investment, equipment and parts from overseas and was hit hard by the fallout from Western sanctions and the carmaker exodus in response to Moscow despatching troops to Ukraine in February 2022. Sales of new cars plunged by 59% last year.
Autostat, citing data from its partner consulting company PPK, said 75,622 vehicles were sold in April compared with just 27,965 in April 2022. That was still down on the around 150,000 units sold in April 2021.
The exodus of Western automakers is narrowing options for Russian consumers, who are having to get used to higher prices and Chinese brands, such as Haval, Chery and Geely.
All of the top 10 models sold in April were either Russian or Chinese, Autostat’s data showed. Only three of the top 10, including the cheap, bestselling Lada Granta, were domestic Lada cars produced by flagship Russian automaker Avtovaz.
Avtovaz earlier on Thursday said its April sales had jumped 225% year-on-year in April and rose 18.4% month-on-month.
Lada held 33% market share in April, up from 23% a year ago, but the growing share of Chinese models is most noticeable. Chinese brands in the top 10 sellers accounted for more than 40% of sales in April, from around 12% a year ago.
In the first four months of the year, sales of Chery, Geely and Haval cars were up 235.7%, 228.6% and 134.2%, respectively. Sales of South Korea’s Kia and Hyundai, and Japan’s Toyota were down 67%, 68.1% and 67.8%.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Alexander Marrow, Christina Fincher and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
