Ukraine October 2015: Renault takes control in market down just 5%

Renault dislodges Toyota to become Ukraine’s #1 carmaker in October. Picture autocentre.ua

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In our last Ukrainian update dating from July, we stressed the fact that the local new car market was ‘recovering’ with sales down 21% year-on-year. The situation got a lot darker since – with August volumes down 46% and September down 24% – before getting a lot better: October deliveries are down just 5% year-on-year to 5.596 units, the strongest month of 2015 so far. Keep in mind we are still evolving at just one-third of the sales levels of just two years ago, before the Ukrainian market got obliterated by the Crimea crisis. In fact, sales recorded over the past four months (18.780) are only marginally better than October 2013 alone (16.081)…

The ZAZ Sens, #1 in 2014, is back to pole position at home in September.

H2 monthly sales 2013-2015 – Ukraine:

The BMW X5 is up to #12 overall in Ukraine in September…

A lot is changing in Ukraine in these exceptional times. Toyota had established itself as the #1 manufacturer in the country in 2014 and so far in 2015. Geely was #2 last year but has sunk to #12 in 2015. Yet in October Renault well and truly takes control thanks to sales evolving at a very fast pace: +46% to 578 units for a 10.3% market share, the first time in recent memory that the French carmaker manages to cross the symbolic 10% mark. Renault’s success is solely due to its “access” range: the Logan (#1 year-to-date), Duster (#9) and Sandero (#11) account for 83% of its sales so far this year. Toyota (-26%) is knocked down to #2 while Ford is up a smashing 47% to third place and 7.3% share edging past ZAZ (-10%), Skoda (-11%) and Nissan (-14%). Other brands helping the market stabilise this month include Kia (+52%), BMW (+71%) up to #8 vs. #26 in FY2014, Chevrolet (+173%), Mercedes (+67%) and Chery (+73%).

…while the Audi Q7 breaks into the Top 20.

The models ranking is available with one month delay, so we will analyse September data. If the Logan stays on top year-to-date, remaining the only nameplate to sell over 1.000 units at 1.090 and 3.6% share, in September ZAZ aggressively monopolises the Top 2 spots with its twins the Sens (#1) and Lanos (#2) adding up to 308 units and 7% market share. The Skoda Rapid and Ford Fiesta both jump 9 spots on August to #4 and #5 respectively, the BMW X5 is up a further 3 ranks to reach an incredible 12th spot, the Toyota Prius ranks #15 and the Audi Q7 breaks into the Ukrainian Top 20.

Previous post: Ukraine July 2015: Renault Logan tops recovering market (-21%)

Full August/September 2015 All-models/brands and October Top 30 brands below.