The new passenger car market reached a three-and-a-half-year record in October

According to Autostat, the significant increase in sales is due to the inclusion in the statistics of cars sold at the end of September, as well as expectations of price increases due to the weakening of the ruble.

The executive director of the Autostat agency, Sergei Udalov, explained that the record figures for October are due to the fact that the October statistics took into account a part of the cars actually sold at the end of September. This allowed us to achieve high figures, especially in the first days of the month, when almost 50 thousand cars were sold, the best result since the beginning of 2022.

According to Vladimir Bespalov, an analyst at Euler Analytical Technologies, the maintenance of high demand for new cars is due to the population’s concern about rising prices against a backdrop of weakening of the ruble and an increase in the Bank’s official interest rate. Central, which will also make car loans less accessible. “In addition, demand was influenced by the desire of buyers to buy cars before the increase in the recycling rate, which came into effect on October 1.

However, despite October’s record numbers, experts predict a slowdown in the market. Traffic at the Rolf business group is declining, especially among private buyers. Nikolai Ivanov, director of the new car sales department of the Rolf group of companies, said that activity among individuals has decreased, although corporate sales showed a noticeable increase, which was facilitated by previously concluded transactions. In October we achieved record results for the year, largely thanks to corporate clients.

Deputy General Director of New Car Sales of the Avilon Group of Companies Renat Tyukteev also noted a decrease in traffic at car dealerships over the past four weeks.

According to Avtostat, in October the sales leader in the Russian market remains the Lada brand, whose sales increased by 30% compared to last year and amounted to 44.8 thousand vehicles. AvtoVAZ also recorded sales of 42.88 thousand vehicles, including Lada Largus light commercial models. In second place among all brands and first among foreign manufacturers is the Chinese Haval, whose sales increased by 85.6%, reaching 23.8 thousand units. Geely closes the top three with a result of 17.16 thousand cars, 65.7% more than in October of last year. It is followed by other Chinese brands, such as Chery, which increased its sales by 39.4%, to 15.14 thousand vehicles, and Changan, whose sales increased by 71.8%, reaching 10.98 thousand units.