Russia November 2016: Lada outpaces market up for 1st time in 2 years

The Lada Vesta sells a record 5.661 units in Russia in November. 

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 55 All-brands and Top 250 All-models – see title *

Finally! The Russian new car market manages a slight year-on-year gain in November (+0.6%) after 22 consecutive months of decline – the last gain was seen in December 2014. It’s too early to tell whether the market has bottomed out indeed though and this is confirmed by Joerg Schreiber, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee: “It is good to be able to say such a thing after all, but it is far too early to read a trend turnaround into this. For now, all eyes are on December which has the potential to demonstrate that the market continues to move in the right direction”. Lest we forget the year-to-date tally is down 12% to 1.279.987 and that November 2016 is only the third month of year-on-year gains in the past 46.

The F-Pace boosts Russian Jaguar sales up 265% this month. Pictures zr.ru 

The Top 5 best-selling carmakers all outperform the market: homegrown behemoth Lada is in excellent shape this month with a 18% surge to 19.3% share, fast outpacing its immediate followers Hyundai (11.9%) and Kia (11.1%) both up 4%. Renault soars 13% to #4, distancing Toyota (+7%), Volkswagen (-8%) and Nissan, in great difficulty again at -18%. Chery (+10%), GAZ (+18%), Lexus (+22%), Porsche (+29%), Mini (+32%), Jeep (+38%), Subaru (+45%), Volkswagen Vans (+61%), Jaguar (+265%) and Smart (+352%) post the most spectacular sales improvements in November, while at the other end of the performance ladder Datsun (-16%), Suzuki (-20%), Land Rover (-23%), Mitsubishi (-30%), Audi (-32%), Peugeot (-34%), Volvo (-37%), Fiat (-41%), Dongfeng (-64%) and Geely (-80%) all fall sharply.

Perfect scoresheet for the Hyundai Creta in Russia: 4 months out of 4 as #1 SUV. 

In the space of two years, the Russian models ranking has made a sharp U-turn: a Lada leading it is now a rarity, something that used to be utterly unthinkable. In November, the Lada Granta reclaims the title of best-selling nameplate in the country for the first time since last May, but its meagre advantage over its rivals the Kia Rio (108 sales) and Hyundai Solaris (257) do nothing to change anything in the YTD ladder. After 11 months, the Solaris has a comfortable lead at 82.338 sales (-23%) vs. 79.633 for the Kia Rio (-10%) and 78.953 for the Granta (-27%). In other words, we are headed towards the first annual win for a foreign nameplate in Russia since the Lada marque was launched in 1970! This even though the Solaris hatchback was discontinued to give way to the Creta on the Hyundai St Petersburg factory… The culprit for the Granta’s dive: the Vesta, up 11% on October to post a new record monthly volume at 5.661.

The Qashqai is up 44% but doesn’t prevent Nissan from freefalling 18% in November.

Four months on sale in Russia and four months as the best-selling SUV in the country: it’s a full strike for the Hyundai Creta ranking 5th overall with 4.814 deliveries and distancing the Renault Duster at 3.569 (-17%), the Chevrolet Niva at 2.664 (-11%) and the Renault Kaptur at 2.327, the other instant blockbuster in the country and the segment. With the Logan at #9 (-11%) and the Sandero at #10 (+17%), Renault even places four nameplates inside the November Top 12 vs. just three for Lada. Other great performing SUVs include the Lada XRAY at its best since last May at #16, the Nissan Qashqai up 44% to #18 and the Toyota Prado up 22% to #22.

Previous month: Russia October 2016: Kia Rio dominates again in market down just 3%

One year ago (1): Russia November 2015: Hyundai Solaris #1, Lada Vesta lands in Top 20

One year ago (2): Russia November 2015: Now with Top 306 All-models (BSCB Exclusive)

Full November 2016 Top 55 All-brands and Top 250 All-models below.