New car sales in Russia have plummeted: the market is dominated by "Chinese" and domestic brands

The Russian market for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) in 2025 remains under serious pressure. According to forecasts by the Association of Russian Automobile Dealers (ROAD), the annual decline in sales could range from 23 to 32%. Despite the overall decline, Russian brands maintain leading positions, providing a significant share of sales.

In the first half of the year, 569.1 thousand new cars were sold in the country, 27% less than in the same period of 2024. Of these, about 225.4 thousand cars (40%) are Russian, 55% of sales came from Chinese brands, and the remaining 5% were brands supplied through parallel imports.

Russian cars continue to be the mainstay of the automotive market, even in times of crisis. However, demand continues to decline, despite the fall in the average price of a new car from 3.35 million rubles in 2024 to 3.12 million in 2025.

The main constraint remains the sharp decline in car loans. The volume of car loans issued decreased by 53% to 457 thousand in six months. High interest rates on loans and leases, reaching 27–28% per annum, seriously limit purchasing activity.

At the same time, the used car market shows more stable dynamics: a decrease of only 4% with a total volume of 3.09 million cars. Russian cars account for 32% of the secondary market.

Sales of domestic electric vehicles remain insignificant — less than 1% of the total market. Despite the decline compared to last year's record, this direction is considered promising, but is not yet able to significantly affect the situation in the industry.

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