Otkritie Avto (auto business unit of Otkritie Bank) and the analytical agency "AUTOSTAT" conducted a joint study of the market of new passenger cars in Russia and determined its financial capacity* based on the results of February 2023. According to the results of the study, at the end of winter, residents of our country spent 144.4 billion rubles on the purchase of new cars,. This is 29.4% more than in January (111.6 billion rubles), but 34% less than in February 2022 (218.8 billion rubles). In total, 56.1 thousand new passenger cars were sold over the last winter month — 24.1% more than in January (45.2 thousand units), but 43.4% less than in February 2022 (99.1 thousand units).
The premium segment has gone up
In February, the share of premium cars in the structure of financial capacity increased. In the last month of winter, residents of our country bought 2.3 thousand new premium segment cars (including luxury brands), spending 26 billion rubles (+55.4% in financial capacity). As a result, the share of premium cars in the cost structure for the month increased from 15% to 18%. But the share of mass-market cars, on the contrary, decreased — from 85% to 82%. The volume of their sales in February amounted to 53.8 thousand units (+23% compared to January), and purchase costs — 118.4 billion rubles (+24.8%).
The share of "Chinese" decreased, but it did not affect their leadership
More than 40% of all money in February was spent on Chinese-made cars. According to the results of February in 20.5 thousand new passenger cars of Chinese manufacturers were sold to Russia. Buyers spent a total of 59.8 billion rubles on them, which is 41.4% of the total financial capacity of the market. At the same time, in January, this indicator was 45.7%.
Despite the decline in the share, the "Chinese" remain the leaders in terms of the amount of financial resources spent on them. The cars of European brands closest to them cost the Russians 24.6 billion rubles in February (the share in the financial capacity of the new car market is 17.1%). Next in this ranking are domestic brands (20.5 billion rubles; the share is 14.2%), Korean (19.3 billion rubles; 13.4%), Japanese (15.5 billion rubles; 10.7%) and American (4.7 billion rubles; 3.2%).
Three quarters of all the money went to crossovers and SUVs
The SUV segment remains the largest on the Russian market both in absolute terms and in monetary terms. For the whole of February, 34.8 thousand new crossovers and SUVs were sold in our country, and 110.5 billion rubles were spent on them. As a result, this segment accounted for 62% in pieces and 76.5% in money (in January it was 62.9% and 78.2%, respectively).
B-class cars remain the second most popular among Russians. By the end of February, 17.2 thousand such cars were sold for the amount of 15.6 billion rubles. Their share was 30.6% in the market volume and 10.8% in financial capacity. Thus, in total, the share of these two segments (SUV and B) accounted for 92.6% of all cars purchased and 87.3% of the funds spent.
The indicators of all other segments totaled 7.4% and 12.7%, respectively. It should also be noted that despite the growth of the financial capacity of the entire market, its decline is observed only in the LAV segment: the cost of Russians to buy such cars in February decreased by about a quarter (-23.4%). And this is due to a drop in their sales (-30.4%), while growth was recorded for all others.
"The share of Chinese car sales in Russia has increased 4 times over the past year. Even being inferior in terms of sales volumes to Russian brands, they are leading in the structure of the financial capacity of the market. All thanks to a higher weighted average price — due to this, more money is spent on buying Chinese cars," the press service of the AUTOSTAT agency explains.
"The driver of the growth of the financial capacity of the market remains Chinese and Russian automakers, who are the only ones who continue official deliveries to our market. At the same time, the "Chinese" are betting on crossovers, and domestic brands (actually LADA) are playing both in the B segment and in the SUV. Therefore, the lion's share of Russians' expenses — about 90% — falls on these two segments," the press service of Otkritie Avto noted.
Please note that this press release is based on materials provided by the company. AK&M Information Agency shall not be held liable for its contents, nor for the legal and other consequences of its publication.
