Drain the water: Russians have started to get rid of premium Chinese cars
Russians began to actively get rid of premium cars made in China. During the year, the number of ads for the sale of such cars has tripled, and a significant part of them are represented by models no older than two years. At the same time, the number of transactions with these cars on the secondary market is also growing. Experts explain the reasons for this phenomenon in different ways. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Explosive growth
Since August last year, the number of ads for the sale of used Chinese cars in the premium segment has tripled. This is evidenced by the data of the service. Auto.ru prepared at the request of Izvestia. At the same time as the number of such ads increases, the average age of cars offered for sale is decreasing: if in August last year it was 2.1 years old, now this figure is 1.9 years old. The average price at which these models are sold has also dropped slightly, from 5.17 million to 4.86 million rubles.
At the request of Izvestia, the analysts of the service made a selection of the sale ads for the most common Chinese models of the premium segment in our country.
Thus, the number of people willing to sell Lixiang cars (all models) has quadrupled over the year. The average age of such cars decreased from 2.1 to 1.8 years, and the average price — from 6.3 to 5.8 million rubles. For the Tank brand, the number of offers for sale has tripled, and the average age of cars offered for sale has dropped from 2.1 to 1.9 years. At the same time, their prices on the secondary market have not changed much: 4.39 million rubles at the end of last summer against 4.36 million rubles at the moment.
Zeekr brand cars were also sold three times more often. If a year ago the average age of these models in the secondary market was 2.2 years, now it is 1.9 years, the average price has decreased from 5.4 million rubles per year to 5.1 million rubles. For Voyah electric cars and hybrids, the number of ads for sale increased 2.7 times, the average age of such cars decreased from 2.4 to 2.2 years, and the average price increased from 4.9 to 4.4 million rubles.
The "secondary" is also taken
Naturally, with the increase in the number of sales announcements, the number of transactions for the purchase of premium Chinese cars on the secondary market has also increased. In particular, according to data provided to Izvestia by the analytical agency Autostat Info, 3,038 used Lixiang cars were sold in Russia in January–July of this year. This is 85.9% higher than the result for the same period last year (1,634 cars). Sales of used Tank models increased by 191.8% in seven months (3,499 cars sold this year versus 1,199 last year). Used Zeekr models grew by 84.4%: 1,195 used cars this year and 648 last year.
Voyah cars sold 1,428 units in the secondary market from January to July this year, which is 107.6% more than in the seven months of last year, when 648 of these used cars were purchased.
What we bought, we sell.
There is a really noticeable increase in the number of ads for the sale of Chinese premium segment models in the used car market, confirms Roman Titov, Deputy General Director for Used Cars at Avilon Group. In his opinion, this is due to the fact that they began to be actively bought in 2022-2023, and the average service life of premium cars by one owner is, on average, 2.5–3 years.
— During this time, the car usually has a relatively high mileage, and the owner has sufficiently appreciated the driving characteristics, options and comfort. Therefore, he just wants to choose a new car, most often also a Chinese brand, especially since there are a lot of new Chinese premium cars on the market right now and there is plenty to choose from. Only a very small percentage of our customers, having tried the Chinese premium, switch to twice as expensive European cars," he told Izvestia.
In turn, Nikolai Ivanov, director of the new car sales department at Rolf, believes that it is premature to talk about a "sale" of premium cars of Chinese brands with mileage. He attributes the increase in the number of ads for their sale, as well as the increase in the number of transactions with them on the secondary market, to the "low base" effect.
— A few years ago, there were almost no such used cars. Now they are appearing on the market, and a "candle" has appeared in the dynamics," he stressed.
At the same time, since there is a variety in the premium segment of Chinese-made cars, many owners of such cars simply change one "Chinese" for another, he noted.
The threefold increase in supply on the secondary market over the year is primarily a direct result of the explosive growth in sales of new cars of premium Chinese brands, says Irina Frank, CEO of Frank Auto.
"As the total fleet of these cars in Russia is rapidly increasing, the number of cars entering the secondary market is naturally growing, which is the natural life cycle of any fleet," she told Izvestia
As for the sale of fresh models, according to Irina Frank, this indicates their very rapid turnover and renewal of the fleet. A moderate decrease in the average price also does not look like a sign of panic, she believes. This is due to an increase in the supply of fresh cars and the updating of model ranges from manufacturers, which exerts a natural restraining pressure on the cost of cars in the secondary market, she explained.
The taste is not the same
Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, agrees that the increase in the number of ads for the sale of premium "Chinese" with mileage is largely due to the increase in sales of new cars of this class. He explains the "freshness" of the models offered on the secondary market by the very rapid updating of the model ranges by automakers from China and the desire of premium car owners to "always be at the peak of fashion."
So, at the end of the last year, Voyah Free had a Sport Edition version with a more advanced hybrid installation and additional winter options. At the same time, a certain part of people literally "drain" the Chinese premium, Maxim Kadakov notes.
— There is a fairly large proportion of "refuseniks": those who previously drove a European or Japanese premium model. But after switching to "Chinese", I realized that he was still not up to the usual level. It is difficult to say how many such people there are. Not every one of these buyers admits that they made the wrong choice. In my opinion, we are talking about about 20-25% of sellers who have placed an advertisement for the sale of a premium Chinese car," Maxim Kadakov told Izvestia.
Anton Shaparin, Vice President of the National Automobile Union (NAS), shares a similar point of view. In his opinion, in some cases, the actual operation of a Chinese premium car does not meet the expectations of buyers.
— The vast majority of such cars are "electric trains" or hybrids. And their operation is very specific. People who buy cars of this level are often not ready to change their habits in order, for example, to look for a car charger, to find out if the connector is suitable — all this manifests itself only in practice, — says the vice president of NAS.
Hybrid models also have their own characteristics, he notes. These cars show stunning acceleration only when the battery is fully charged. As the charge level drops, their dynamics and other characteristics decrease, he recalls.
— As a result, it is often possible to observe a picture on country roads when Lixiang or Zeekr with an empty battery are inferior to "Foci" and "Solaris", the dynamics of which does not depend on the volume of fuel in the tank. This is a serious blow to self—esteem for the owners of premium "Chinese", - said Anton Shaparin.
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