Russia Full Year 2011: Lada Kalina leads for the first time, December 2011: Hyundai Solaris 741 units off pole position!

Hyundai Solaris & Renault Logan

* See the Top 56 All-brands and Top 25 models by clicking on the title! *

A Top 120 models ranking for the Full Year 2011 is now available here

New car sales in Russia are up a healthy 23% in December to 251,414 units, bringing the final 2011 total to 2,653,408 registrations, up a massive 39% on 2010 thanks to scrappage schemes and the second largest annual volume on record for the Russian market behind the 2,897,459 units of 2008. Lada (+12%) doesn’t benefit as much from dynamic sales and as a result sees its share tumble down from 27.1% in 2010 to 21.8% this year, whereas Chevrolet (+49%), Hyundai (+88%), Renault (+60%), Kia (+47%), Nissan (+74%) and Toyota (+51%) all improve their share year-on-year in the remainder of the Top 7. Volkswagen (+100%) breaks into the Top 10 at #9, with Geely (+212%), Mini (+167%), Jeep (+159%), Lifan (+133%), IZH (+87%), Great Wall (+86%), Ssangyong (+85%), Volvo (+80%), Opel (+65%), Mitsubishi (+63%) and Skoda (+62%) among the most dynamic further down.

Renault Sandero

In December, the Lada Samara leads for the third consecutive month with 11,349 sales ahead of the Lada Kalina at 11,214 units (both at 4.7%) but the main event is how close to the pole position the Hyundai Solaris is: only 741 units! It ranks #3 with 10,608 sales and 4.4%, its 2nd best volume after 10,833 in June. This is the closest a foreign model has come to the Russian pole position since the Ford Focus ranked #1 in December 2008. This means the Solaris could very well take advantage of the transition from the Samara/Kalina to the Granta in 2012 to take the lead of the Russian market for a couple of months! It would be the first time since before World War II that a foreign model is #1 in Russia. Another milestone passed in December is the Renault Sandero breaking into the Russian Top 10 for the very first time with 5,190 sales and 2.2%, making Renault the only brand with Lada to manage to place at least 2 models (with the Logan) within the Top 10 this month. Notice also the Chevrolet Niva up to #7 and the Nissan X-Trail up to #19.

Lada Kalina

Over the Full Year 2011, after holding the monthly top spot for the first time in November 2010, the Lada Kalina (+31%) reiterated this feat 3 times this year in February, April and July to become Russia’s best-selling vehicle for the very first time in history at 5.4% share. In fact all four best-selling Ladas ranked #1 at least twice monthly rankings this year. The Lada Priora (+11%) is #2 at 5.2% share and #1 in May, Jun, August and September, the Lada Samara(+16%) is #3 at 4.6% and #1 in October, November and December and Lada 2104-7 (-19%) goes from #1 in 2010 to #4 this year at 4.2%, but still managed to lead the monthly charts in January and March. Note the Lada 2104, previously manufactured by IZH, is now added to the monthly and annual total (it wasn’t the case in 2010).

Lada 4×4

The revelation of the year is of course the locally-produced Hyundai Solaris (see above), launched in February and already the best-selling foreign model in Russia over the Full Year 2011 at #5 with 3.7% share, followed by the Ford Focus (+23%) and Renault Logan (+30%). Believe it or not, the valiant Lada 4×4 (aka Niva) is the best-performing Lada this year with sales up 36% in 8th position. Other great performers this year include the VW Polo up 400% to #11, Kia Rio up 72% to #12, Renault Sandero up 138% to #14, Skoda Octavia up 125% to #16 and Chevrolet Cruze up 100% to #18.

Previous month: Russia November 2011: Hyundai Solaris on podium, Kia Rio #6

Previous year: Russia Full Year 2010: 30 year-old Lada 2104-7 claims top spot

Full Year 2011 and all monthly Top 56 All-brands for January-December 2011 below.

Full Year and December 2011 Top 25 models below.