Russia First Half 2018: Lada at highest in 7 years, market up 18.2%

The Lada Vesta is less than 2.000 sales off the #1 spot over H1 2018.

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

The Russian new car market posts a second consecutive year of gains over the First Half of 2018 at a very robust +18.2% to 849.221 registrations, the highest H1 score since 2014 (1.229.839). After a few difficult years, local behemoth Lada is back in the thick of its home market, even outpacing the fast overall growth at +21% to reach a round 20% market share, its highest halfway through the year since 2011 (23.6%) after hitting an all-time low of 15.7% in 2014. Both Kia (+31%) and Hyundai (+23%) also frankly beat the market, as do Skoda (+27%) and Volkswagen (+22%) in the remainder of the Top 10, while Ford (+17%) and Renault (+16%) almost march the market and Nissan (+5%), Toyota (+7%) and GAZ (+8%) underperform.

Mitsubishi sales in Russia surge 131% so far in 2018.

Just outside the Top 10, Mitsubishi surges 131%, snapping the 2nd largest year-on-year gain in the Top 30 below Honda (+357%) in full reborn mode. Mini (+59%), Smart (+56%), Subaru (+44%), Peugeot (+33%), Genesis (+32%) and Mazda (+29%) also impress, although the largest gains in market are mostly a Chinese prerogative this year. Although as a whole Chinese carmakers trail the market slightly at +17% to an unchanged 1.9% share overall due to the relative shyness of its two best-sellers Lifan (+3%) and Chery (+11%), it’s the smaller ones that display the most dynamic behaviour: FAW (+216%), Zotye (+158%), Dongfeng (+138%) and Foton (+73%) all post spectacular improvement albeit all remaining at a minuscule 0.1% share.

Kia advances 31% year-on-year halfway through 2018.

Model-wise, the Kia Rio remains in the lead for the 2nd year in a row but its 12% year-on-year gain means its share thaws to 6.1%. The main event of the First Half of 2018 in Russia is the very first two wins of the Lada Vesta in January and June. As a result, the Vesta steps up to #2 and only trails the Rio by less than 2.000 units, a gap it could definitely erase with strong sales in H2. The Lada Granta (+9%) and Hyundai Solaris (+3%) lose significant share just below while the Hyundai Creta (+38%) brilliantly widens the gap with all its SUV competitors, including the Renault Duster (+7%) and Lada XRAY (+6%). The Lada Largus (+53%) gets a second wind, posting the largest win in the Top 25 below the Mitsubishi Outlander (+54%). The Kia Sportage (+30%) for its parts leaps up 8 spots to break into the half-year Top 10 for the first time. The Kia Cee’d (+36%), VW Tiguan (+29%) and Mazda CX-5 (+27%) also frankly beat the market.

Previous post: Russia June 2018: Lada Vesta breaks volume record to snap 2nd ever win

One year ago: Russia First Half 2017: First positive result in five years

Full H1 2018 Top 55 All-brands and Top 25 models vs. Full H1 2017 figures below.