Russians bought 2.65 million Chinese cars, Chery accounted for 22%

According to Autostat, a Russian automobile market analysis agency,As of mid-2025, Chinese brand cars will account for 6% of the total number of passenger cars sold in Russia.Autostat pointed out that as of mid-2025, there were 2.65 million Chinese passenger cars in Russia, which means that 1 in every 17 cars is a Chinese brand.

The most popular Chinese car brand in the Russian market is currently Chery, accounting for 22% of all Chinese cars registered in Russia, with a total of 582,200 units.

Haval ranks second with a total of 468,600 registered vehicles, and Geely ranks third with 457,900 registered vehicles. Changan and Lifan ranked among the top five with 202,500 and 151,000 registered vehicles respectively.

It is understood that the explosion of Chinese cars in the Russian market began with the supply vacuum caused by geopolitical conflicts.

In early 2022, after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, Western car brands withdrew from the Russian market in large numbers, leaving a large amount of car market demand that was quickly taken over by Chinese car companies.

The data shows,China's automobile exports to Russia will be 163,000 vehicles in 2022; surge to 909,000 vehicles in 2023; and increase to 1.158 million vehicles in 2024.

However, after entering 2025, Russia's policy environment has tightened across the board, directly impacting the profit foundation of Chinese passenger cars sold in Russia.

Starting from January 2025, Russia's tariffs on imported cars will be significantly increased, from the original level to 20%-38%. At the same time, vehicle scrappage taxes have increased by 70%-85%, and will continue to increase year by year. Multiple factors have caused the average selling price of cars in the Russian market to increase significantly to 3.35 million rubles (equivalent to RMB 250,000), and the automobile market has also cooled sharply.

Statistics show that from January to May this year, China’s automobile exports to Russia were only 154,000 vehicles, a sharp decline compared with the same period in previous years.