MOSCOW, Russia : As western automakers left Russia since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the Chinese have rushed in to fill the void, and now 40 percent of all new car sales in Russia are Chinese brands.
According to the data released by the analytical agency Autostat and consulting company PPK, 40 percent of recent Russian car purchases were Chinese brands, such as Haval, Chery and Geely. The Chinese moved into the Russian auto market after the departure of Renault, Nissan and Mercedes.
Chinese cars are often seen as being of lower quality and higher priced than western autos.
In 2022, I managed to buy a Skoda, according to Stepan, 28, from Moscow. He told Reuters that if you want my honest opinion, the difference between Chinese cars and Chinese cars is huge.
The Czech carmaker Skoda Auto, owned by Volkswagen, is in the final stages of selling its Russian business in the wake of Western sanctions against Russia.
Alexander, 74, has also bought a Chinese auto. He said that he believes that the reliability will improve in time. For example, I know that Geely Tugella has a Volvo engine. As quoted by Reuters, this car was sold for me.
After a visit to China in December, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that Chinese autos were much improved over the past and Russian consumers' perceptions were out of date.
We used to laugh at some of their designs, but I went for a ride in a local car and looked at others, he said. I'm going to say bluntly: The car I drove was no worse than a Mercedes. Most Western automakers, who have fought with domestic carmakers for market share since they began building factories in Russia in the early 2000s, stopped operations last spring.
Vladimir Shestak, general director of Altair-Auto in Vladivostok, said: We've lived our whole lives focused on European, Japanese, American brands and did not take into account the Chinese market. The rate of development has been quoted by Reuters.
China's Haval is now being assembled in Russia and the revived Soviet-era Moskvich is using engine parts, design and engineering from China.