Backed down: Chinese automakers are losing the Russian market
For the first time in recent years, the share of Chinese cars in the Russian car market has decreased. Some brands from China may leave Russia altogether. Their place is occupied by cars produced at Russian and Belarusian car factories. The trend will only intensify, experts believe. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Below the market
According to the results of ten months, 570 thousand new passenger cars of Chinese brands were sold in Russia. This was announced by Sergey Tselikov, General Director of the analytical agency Autostat. He noted that compared to the same period last year, sales of models from China decreased by 27%. At the same time, the overall market for new cars decreased by 19.9% in January –October. Thus, the market share of Chinese automakers in Russia has decreased to 54%, the expert noted.
A noticeable increase in sales of models from China in our country began in 2021 against the background of serious problems with the shortage of electronic chips and related supply disruptions from Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea. The share of Chinese brands increased dramatically in 2022 after the departure of foreign companies from the Russian Federation.
Thus, according to the Autostat agency, in 2020, the Chinese accounted for only 3.8% of the new car market, but in 2021 it increased to almost 7%. By the end of 2022, despite the overall sharp drop in new car sales, the share of cars from China increased to almost 20%, and in 2023 it was already 51%. Last year, Chinese models accounted for more than 60% of all new passenger cars sold in our country, and in some months this figure reached up to 70%. Thus, the current decrease in the share of Chinese car companies in the Russian market has occurred for the first time in the last five years.
According to an analysis by Autostat, of the five Chinese car companies among the ten most popular in the Russian Federation, only Haval managed to not only maintain, but even slightly increase its market share compared to last year — from 12 to 12.8%. Other "Chinese" showed negative dynamics. Geely suffered the most, losing 2.5% of the market. The situation is slightly better for Changan (-1.72%) and Chery (-1.17%). Omoda's share decreased by 0.8% over the year.
On the verge of departure
— In total, Chinese passenger cars of 64 brands were registered in Russia in 2025. Less than half of them carry out official deliveries with the registration of "Vehicle type Approval", — Sergey Tselikov noted.
At the same time, a number of car brands, even those officially supplied, are "on the verge of departure," the expert believes. As an example, the CEO of Autostat cited the Ora brand. According to him, since the beginning of the year, only 366 cars of this brand have been sold, and the total sales volume since 2022 amounted to 921 copies.
— Over all these years, 940 copies of Ora have been imported to Russia. In ten months of 2025, only 20 units were imported. Comparing these figures, we can conclude that the Ora brand is completing its presence in our market. And there are practically no car dealers left," says Sergey Tselikov.
According to Nikolai Ivanov, director of the new car sales department at Rolf, Ora's failure is due to the fact that the brand tried to enter a very narrow segment — hatchbacks, and only with electric cars.
— Of course, this is not what the market needs, because the share of electric trains in the Russian market is less than 1%. Unlike hybrids, electric vehicles are losing ground," he said.
Things are no better for companies such as Oting, VGV, and Forting, whose machines have sold 140-340 units in ten months. The situation is even worse for BAW (68 machines since the beginning of the year), Skywell (24 machines) and xPeng (20 machines).
According to Andrey Olkhovsky, CEO of Avtodom Group, brands that sell more than 5,000 cars a year will not leave the Russian market. As for manufacturers with lower sales volumes, a lot depends on their long-term plans, he noted. The smaller these volumes are, the more likely it is to leave the market.
Localization is the future.
The Russian car market is actively replacing Chinese models with analogues assembled in Russia and Belarus, Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, notes.
— Now there are Chery, of which there are many more, and Tenet T4, T7 and T8 in the showroom nearby. Since there are no new shipments of Chery, as these cars are sold out, the share of the Chinese brand will decrease further, and the share and sales of the Russian brand will increase accordingly," he told Izvestia.
A similar situation is observed in the Geely /Belgee bundle, the editor-in-chief of Behind the Wheel notes. The difference is that the Belarusian brand produces cars based on Geely models of the previous generation, he said.
"The annual indexation of the recycling fee, which was decided last fall, makes car imports less attractive and domestic assembly more profitable," said Maxim Kadakov.
The redistribution of shares in favor of new players — Belgee and Tenet — indicates the successful development of import substitution and localization programs, says Nikita Kolesnikov, a representative of the Japanese export company HSS in the Russian Federation. According to him, in the future, new rules related to a systematic increase in recycling will become a systemic factor determining the future of the entire market.
"This will contribute to accelerated localization and strengthen the positions of domestic producers," he stressed.
In the medium term, localization of production is the only way for Chinese car brands willing to work in Russia, Andrey Olkhovsky believes.
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