Russia November 2017: Lada Vesta only 42 units off first pole position

Lada Vesta sw – the Vesta breaks its ranking, volume and share records in November.

* See the Top 55 All-brands and Top 25 models by clicking on the title *

The Russian new car market records a 9th consecutive year-on-year gain and 7th double-digit gain in a row in November at +15% to 152.259 deliveries, lifting the year-to-date tally up 11.7% to 1.430.197. Lada matches the market with a 14% year-on-year improvement to 19.2% share, followed by Kia (+10%) and Hyundai (-3%) both losing market share vs. a year ago. Renault follows the market at +15% in 4th place while Volkswagen (+29%), Ford (+29%), Nissan (+28%) and Skoda (+19%) post the largest increases in the Top 10. Below, Honda (+157%), Mitsubishi (+129%), Peugeot (+125%), Isuzu (+66%), Fiat (+45%) and Mazda (+43%) are among the best performers, with recently launched Genesis (+452%) and Ravon (+336%) starting from a low base. But it’s also among Chinese carmakers that we find some very spectacular evolutions: below struggling Lifan (-3%), Chery (+97%), Dongfeng (+162%), Changan (+115%), Zotye (+138%) and Foton (+394%) impress albeit all below 0.5% share.

Russian VW Tiguan sales are up 135% year-on-year this month.

Model-wise, the Kia Rio tops the Russian sales charts for the 12th time in the past 16 months, and this despite a 4% year-on-year loss, cementing its YTD pole position and headed towards its first ever annual win in Russia. This means that the Russian models top spot will be held by a foreign nameplate for the second year running and the second time since the creation of the Lada brand in 1970. But this time it was a very close call, with the Lada Vesta lurking only 42 sales behind the Rio for November. Helped by the arrival of the sw and sw cross variants, the Vesta soars 42% year-on-year and breaks all its records this month: #2 ranking (previous best #3 first hit in January 2017), 5.3% market share (previous best 5.2% first hit last January also) and 8.066 sales (previous best 7.014 in December 2016). It’s also the first time the Vesta is Lada’s best-seller at home, outpacing the Granta (-12%) for the first time.

The Mazda CX-5 is up 34% year-on-year in November. 

Below, the Hyundai Creta posts an incredible 16th month as the country’s best-selling SUV: it has been the #1 SUV here ever since its launch month in August 2016. It’s a great month for SUVs in Russia: in selling order, the Renault Duster (+21%), Kaptur (+25%), Toyota RAV4 (+28%), Lada 4×4 (+36%), VW Tiguan (+135%), Lada XRAY (+16%), Nissan X-Trail (+21%) and Mazda CX-5 (+34%) all outperform the market inside the Top 25. Notice also the Lada Largus (+37%), Skoda Rapid (+25%) and Datsun on-DO (+27%) all posting very robust year-on-year lifts.

Previous month: Russia October 2017: Optima, Outlander shine in market up 17.3%

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

Full November 2017 Top 55 All-brands and Top 25 models below.