Questionable reputation: which car brands Russians don't want to buy
Against the background of a serious drop in sales and a reduction in the number of dealerships, the risk of unpopular brands leaving the Russian market has increased. At the same time, some brands "condemned" by experts declare that they are not going to leave. Some of them even show a noticeable increase in sales. Is it worth believing the words and numbers, or is it better to avoid the showroom with automotive exotics? Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
A candidate for departure?
This is not the first time that the Kaiyi brand has been "buried". Meanwhile, Autostat-Info calculated for Izvestia that 3344 cars of this brand were registered in the first six months of this year. This is 9.6% less than the same period in 2024. Considering that the market has fallen by 26.3% in six months, Kaiyi's result can be considered good. The most popular model of the Chinese brand is the X3 crossover.
In June, Kaiyi generally got into the top 15 of the list of best-selling brands, having sold about 1.3 thousand cars, albeit slightly, but overtaking Xcite and Jaecoo. For comparison, Lada, the leader of the Russian market, sold 24 thousand cars in June, and 155 thousand in six months.
BAIC, whose cars are also assembled by Kaliningrad Avtotor, showed a similar result — 3359 cars. At the same time, the drop in comparison with the first half of 2024 is more serious — 35%. Despite the impressive model range, which even includes an SUV, the U5 Plus sedan, popular with taxi companies, makes the main sales.
Let's go to growth
Another brand associated with Avtotor, SWM, showed impressive growth — 3152 cars, by 420% at once. The Russian Xcite brand "shot up" more impressively — by 656% at once: 3,529 cars were sold in six months. This record result is due to the fact that sales of "websites" last year began only in May.
Other brands that are in the shadows have also shown growth. For example, DongFeng, if you count it together with the brands DFSK and Aeolus, has doubled sales. However, in the first half of 2025, only about 2,000 cars were sold in total.
Against this background, sales of some brands in six months look catastrophic. So, Bestune, owned by the FAW concern, managed to sell only 765 cars, and the hero of the scandalous Bestune T90 advertisement sold out, according to Autostat-Info, with a circulation of only 46 cars. The speaker's "reservation" made the car perhaps the most discussed novelty on the Runet, but it did not help sales.
The Livan brand was able to sell 744 cars (-56%). Belarusian-Chinese VGV crossovers found only 110 buyers, Haima — only 27.
Two distributors and a British "pedigree" did not help the MG — 167 cars, with the expensive Cyberster electric roadster becoming the second most popular after the MG5 budget sedan.
The Oting brand, whose cars appear in Autostat-Info statistics under the DongFeng brand, sold only one and a half hundred Paladin SUVs. The Palasso hardtop pickup truck was not on sale as of the end of June, and 0 such vehicles were registered. The Foton brand, which was also considered a candidate, increased sales of Tunland pickups — almost a thousand in six months.
Revived with electricity
Skywell is still selling stocks of imported electric vehicles and hybrids: 13 cars were sold in six months (-82%). At this rate, the remaining cars will last for a long time.
"Oops, every day," the brand's official telegram channel complains about the cancellation of free electric charging in Moscow.
At the same time, there has been some recovery in the segment of electric vehicles and hybrids officially sold in Russia. The domestic electric car manufacturer Evolve has managed to increase sales by 47% this year, to 1,175 units. Premium brands Seres Aito and Wey turned out to be in the black, although they were able to sell less than 1 thousand of their cars. Ora was able to sell about 300 electric cars, showing an increase of 148%.
No one leaves
Meanwhile, there are no statements from car brands about the cessation of sales in Russia. The Kaiyi representative office denied rumors of an imminent withdrawal from the Russian market, despite a noticeable reduction in the number of dealers. A BAIC representative told Izvestia that the brand plans to strengthen the model range by expanding the BJ off-road series. So, by the end of the year, the BAIC BJ60 diesel-powered frame SUV will enter the market. Two more new series are expected towards the end of the year. Both Kaiyi and BAIC will continue to assemble on Avtotor.
Representatives of Livan stated that they are working to reduce the existing runoff and are considering further supplies.
Dmitry Kostromin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at AvtoVAZ, previously denied rumors about the possible closure of the Xcite project. At the same time, Lada Iskra is planned to be assembled at the former plant in St. Petersburg, which produces crossovers under these brands.
They organized a sale
The experts interviewed by Izvestia note that the growth of some brands in this half-year is caused by the active sale of stocks from previous years with significant discounts. According to experts, the stocks of different brands vary from several months to a year.
— This is often a necessary measure for small dealers who are faced with cash gaps and a "pre-default situation" due to the unavailability of additional credit limits. The risk that the brand will sell off the leftovers and stop importing new cars is real, especially for brands showing signs of a systemic crisis, as in the case of Kaiyi, which lost a third of its dealer network in the quarter," said Irina Frank, CEO of Frank Auto.
Trading at a loss
For mass brands, the number of deliveries should be at the level of 80-100 cars per showroom, Nikolai Ivanov, director of the new car department at Rolf, told Izvestia. For premium segment brands — 20-30 cars. This is the minimum that is needed to maintain functioning in order to cover fixed costs, Ivanov noted.
Other experts cite a more lenient figure, which is still much more than the outsider brands sell.
— In order to break even in a normal situation, there should be about 600 cars per dealer per year. Accordingly, this is 50 cars per month. It is clear that this is a calculation for the "house". Accordingly, if he has 2-3 brands, then you can distribute them between them. It all works when your sales are not profitable. And when you sold 10 cars and made a loss of 1 million, and sold 50 cars and made a loss of 7 million, there's no point in that," says auto expert and former president of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD) Oleg Moseev.
According to him, if the market situation does not improve, dealers will get rid of unprofitable brands. Due to industrial subsidies and recycling, a significant market share will eventually be occupied by those who will produce full-fledged cars in Russia, Oleg Moseev believes.
Nevertheless, experts do not expect a mass exodus of Chinese brands, as it is important for many companies to maintain a presence in the Russian market. For example, some receive substantial subsidies in China to cover losses, so unsuccessful brands may continue to sell cars in Russia, but with fewer dealers.
— They need to be present here in some way. But I understand that presence is enough, and sales already play a secondary role. A lot of people have no marketing, no normal advertising, no dealer support, nothing," says Igor Morzharetto, partner at Autostat.
Why don't they buy them
Insufficient marketing costs and incorrect product positioning are, according to experts, the reasons why many brands are not successful in Russia.
— Chinese "giants", for example, Chery, Haval, Geely, Chapdap, from the point of view of marketing history, greatly benefit from those in the "basement". Marketing is not just about visualization, it's also about price," Oleg Moseev said.
Launching a brand on the market is a big investment, usually designed for the long term," says Nikolai Ivanov
— You can't invest a billion dollars today and expect the result tomorrow, even if you put up ads on every pole. Trust has been accumulating for years, and a brand has been forming in the minds of customers for a long time. The main mistakes are bloated dealer networks, refusal to make the necessary investments in marketing, initially inflated the cost of the car, and then lowering the price, dumping. This kills the residual value and the value of the product," the expert noted.
It took the Japanese Lexus brand 20 years to be perceived at the level of Mercedes and BMW, Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Behind the Wheel, recalls.
— Chinese brands are coming out and talking: we are now making uncompromising SUVs or we are the best family cars. So you go and prove it. The phrase itself, cultivated within the corporation, does not work on the market. All these beautiful words are about the same for everyone," he believes.
Customers are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade them to believe in new logos, says Renat Tyukteev, Deputy General Director for New Car Sales at Avilon AG.
At the same time, the "newcomers" are doing modestly. The Soueast brand has managed to sell only 1,200 crossovers since the beginning of this year. The KGM brand, formerly SsangYong, launched in March with quite impressive prices, and so far two hundred cars have been registered. At the same time, companies are actively investing in advertising.
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