Chery in the Chinese lead
Since a large part of the car manufacturers have withdrawn from Russia, the Chinese manufacturers have an interesting market. A very interesting one indeed. Russia appears to be by far the most important sales market for Chinese car manufacturers.
As many as 287,000 cars produced in China were exported to Russia in the first five months of this year, Bloomberg reports, based on information from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. This makes Russia by far the most important export market for Chinese cars. In second place we find Mexico, where 159,000 Chinese cars were exported from January to May this year.
The fact that Chinese manufacturers are massively filling the gap that has arisen in the Russian car market after companies such as Toyota and Volkswagen closed the door behind them is evident from the figures for 2022. At that time, 162,000 Chinese cars were still exported to Russia. Chery, Geely and Great Wall are the most popular Chinese brands in Russia and together account for about a third of car sales in the first half of the year, according to Bloomberg.
More than 50 percent of cars sold in Russia in June were not produced locally, Autostat figures show. Information from the same Autostat shows that about thirty Chinese brands (and sub-brands) are active in Russia, which together sell more than a hundred models. In June, with a market share of 29 percent, Lada was still the largest in Russia. In June, Chery was in second place, Haval in third place and Changan and Omoda – a sub-brand of Chery that is also coming to the Netherlands – took places four and five. Interesting fact: in June, more than 1,000 electric cars were sold in Russia for the first time. It concerned 1,054 copies. In June, a total of more than 82,000 cars were sold in Russia.
Pictured: the Lada X-Cross 5, not actually a Lada but a Bestune T77 from the Chinese FAW.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl