Tajikistan: Changhe Freedom and Toyota Camry most popular

Changhe Freedom in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

* See street videos of Dushanbe, Tajikistan by clicking on the title! *

Tajikistan is at a crossroads of various civilisations and its car market reflects this, with Chinese, Russian, Iranian, Kazak and Uzbek influences.

Up to mid-2010, almost half of the cars in circulation in the capital city Dushanbe were Chinese minivans, especially the Changhe Freedom (which just launched last month in Egypt) but also some Hafei and Chana vans. They were introduced in 2006 when authorities prohibited larger microbuses from the city centre. However, these minivans were abruptly banned over safety concerns in April 2010 and as a result must have all but dropped from the best-selling list.

Changhe Freedom in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

The Toyota Camry could therefore be the best-selling vehicle in Tajikistan since then. Other very successful cars in the country are the Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Optra, with the Honda CR-V and Russian-built Chevrolet Niva a notch lower.

Contrary to Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Lada 2105 has not managed to stay on top of the sales ranking for too long after Tajikistan’s independence from the Soviet Union. A few Iran Khodro Samand and Peugeot 405/Pars from Iran can also be seen, as well as a lot of old gen UzDaewoo Nexia from Uzbekistan.

This speculation is based on the observation of the streets of Dushanbe through recent YouTube videos. Please get in touch by commenting on here if you have more information about the Tajik car market.

Street videos and more street scenes below.