In 2022, there was a sharp increase in prices for cars in Russia in the spring and a reduction in the assortment after the departure or suspension of major brands. A lot of imported models appeared on the secondary market, the market of new cars was filled with a variety of "Chinese", including production under the Moskvich brand.
The first news about the suspension of some automakers on the Russian market appeared at the end of February 2022. And the first company that officially curtailed its activities in Russia was the General Motors concern, which sold Cadillac and Chevrolet cars.
By the end of the year, the Russian market lost 12 brands - Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Lexus, Volvo, as well as commercial Ford. Some of these brands have not completely disbanded Russian units: a number of employees continue to support customers.
At the same time, the fate of many brands in Russia has not yet been fully determined. Manufacturers are in no hurry to make decisions and are waiting. For example, the production of Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Skoda and Volkswagen at local enterprises is not currently underway, but officially the companies remain in the country. As well as some brands without local production. For example, Suzuki and Subaru.
Officially, only 14 brands continue to fully operate on the Russian market by the end of 2022. Three of them are Russian: Lada, GAZ and UAZ. The rest are "Chinese": Changan, Chery, Dongfeng, Exeed, FAW, Foton, GAC, Geely, Haval, Jac, Omoda. 6 Russian car factories from those that were working at the beginning of 2022 are "on pause". We are talking about Kaluga PSMA Rus (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Mitsubishi were assembled), Mazda in Vladivostok, Mercedes-Benz in the Moscow region, Nissan and Toyota in St. Petersburg, Volkswagen in Kaluga.
But several "deserted" productions are again engaged in the production of cars. For example, at the former Renault plant in the capital, the production of Moskvich was established. In the Republic of Tatarstan, commercial vehicles under the Sollers brand are now being made instead of Ford Transit. Kaliningrad Avtotor, which used to produce, in particular, Genesis, Hyundai and Kia, has recently returned to work — they began to assemble "Chinese" here. At another Hyundai plant — in St. Petersburg - the stamping of parts, welding and painting of bodies for the Solaris sedan were resumed: they are then sent to the enterprise in Kazakhstan.
Nissan received a symbolic 1 euro as a result of a deal to sell its Russian assets to the state. As a result, the company lost about 700 million euros. And still, such a transaction amount is ten times more than that of Renault: the French manufacturer "left" its assets to the new owners — Moscow — for 1 ruble. At the same time, both brands retained the right to repurchase some assets in Russia.
Sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia fell by 61% — this is the official statistics of the Association of European Businesses (AEB) for January–November 2022 (by the time this material was prepared, there were no data for December yet). In 11 months, Russians bought only 550 thousand new cars.
There are two significant reasons for such a strong drop in sales. Firstly, the choice of cars has noticeably decreased and, despite the wide range of "Chinese", not all buyers are ready to consider them as an alternative to well-known brands. Secondly, high prices have noticeably undermined consumer activity. New cars were now 11% more expensive on average in 2022.
The rise in prices for new cars has also pulled up the average check in the secondary market. This, in turn, was the reason for the growth of sellers' activity — over the year the number of ads for the sale of used cars increased by 36%.
Brands that have left Russia are successfully (or not very) replaced by models from China. And if you want to buy a new Chinese car, then the choice has significantly expanded this year: the assortment has almost doubled, to 50 models.
If we talk about the volume of offers, the number of ads with new Chinese cars has increased almost 3 times over the year. In the secondary market, the dynamics are not so powerful: the number of offers has increased by only a third. Part of the liberated market is occupied by Russian brands — and in 2022 there were three more of them. Moskvich cars were assembled in the capital, Evolute electric cars were assembled in the Lipetsk region, and other commercial vehicles began to be produced under the Sollers brand at the factory in Yelabuga, where Ford Transit was previously assembled. All these machines have Chinese forerunners.
Interest in electric cars on the Russian market is growing. For example, sales of new electric vehicles in Russia for the year rose by 37%, and used — by 24%. The ratings of the most popular models include not only relatively inexpensive and very massive Nissan Leaf, but also premium Tesla Model Y, Porsche Taycan, Audi e—tron Sportback and many others. And also — Hyundai Kona or Mazda MX-30, which are not very familiar to many Russians.
