Kazakhstan Full Year 2014: Lada Granta catches up on Priora

Lada Granta sales are up 22% to #2 overall in 2014 in Kazakhstan.

* UPDATED – See the Top 253 All-models and Top 41 All-brands *

The Kazakh new car market has gone from being the fastest growing in the world to full-on recession in the space of one year: 2014. After gaining 26% during the first quarter and 1% during Q2, new car sales in the country dropped 4% in Q3 and a worrying 16% in Q4, resulting in 2014 being down 1% year-on-year at 163,561 registrations. The culprit? Russia. The depreciation of the Russian ruble and an open borders policy in place since July have made grey Russian imports very profitable, resulting in a total of roughly 220,000 new cars imported from Russia into Kazakhstan so far this year. Add to this 50,000 imports from other countries and a local production of 32,000 and you obtain 302,000 deliveries, almost double the official figures. meaning almost half of the Kazakh new car market is now ‘grey’.

A large Police order of 301 helped Peugeot grow its sales 5-fold in Kazakhstan in 2014.

Brand-wise, despite sales down 21% Lada keeps the lead with 27.7% share, above Kia (+49%), Hyundai (+14%) and Toyota (+3%). Imported from neighbouring Uzbekistan, UZ-Daewoo drops 17% and 4 spots to #6, Renault is up a gargantuan 66% to #7, Volkswagen up 57% to #12, Peugeot up 372% to #16 and Geely lands directly at #14 with 2,182 sales.

The UZ-Daewoo Gentra is the most successful all-new model in 2014.

The Lada Priora is the best-selling nameplate in the country for the 4th year running but drops 24% while the Lada Granta is catching up at +22% and will overtake the Priora in 2015 if both models evolve at the same rate. Benefiting from the fall of grace of the Lada Samara (-84%), UZ-Daewoo Nexia (-57%) and Lada 4×4 (-56%), the Hyundai Accent (+25%), Kia Rio (+120%) and Lada Largus (+97%) all improve their rankings markedly while the UZ-Daewoo Gentra lands directly at #7 for its first year in market.

Previous month: Kazakhstan November 2014: Kia Rio and Uz-Daewoo Nexia shine

Previous year: Kazakhstan Full Year 2013: Lada Priora tops world’s fastest growing market

Two years ago: Kazakhstan Full Year 2012: Lada Priora and Samara on top

Full Year 2014 Top 253 All-models and Top 41 All-brands vs. Full Year 2013 figures below.

Full December 2014 Top 25 models below.