Belarus Q3 2018: Lada teases Renault, Geely up to #4 thanks to Atlas

The Geely Atlas is best-seller in its segment, helping lift the Chinese brand to #4 overall.

* See the Top 30 All-brands and Top 30 models by clicking on the title *

The Belorussian new car market is one of the most dynamic in the entire world, with Q3 sales up 58.3% year-on-year to 14.286 units, leading to a year-to-date volume up 67.1% to 37.482 registrations. Renault (+14%) vastly under-performs and as a result is now seriously threatened by Lada (+201%) up 3-fold year-on-year to 20.8% share vs. 21.5% for the French manufacturer that retains a 1.700 unit-advantage year-to-date. Volkswagen (+18%) also disappoints at 13% share but it’s Geely, up 20-fold on the same period in 2017, that creates the event in Belarus, reaching 6.4% of the market over the 3rd Quarter in 4th place overall and now #8 YTD vs. #12 in FY2017. Ford (+93%), GAZ (+76%), Nissan (+64%) and Kia (+60%) also outpace the market in the remainder of the Top 10 while Skoda (+55%) and Hyundai (+42%) are slightly below but still post sizeable gains. Porsche (+278%), Mercedes (+270%), Suzuki (+141%) and Mitsubishi (+100%) are among the most dynamic further down.

Over in the models ranking, the Lada Vesta, up 10-fold on the same period in 2017, has now managed to reach the same level as the best-seller of the past 5 years, the VW Polo: the two nameplates, both above 10% share, are separated by only two minuscule sales in Q3, to the (temporary?) advantage of the Polo. The fight for the 2018 top spot will be intense over the last quarter of the year while the Renault Sandero is stable but stuck in third place. The best performer in the Top 10 is undoubtedly the Geely Atlas, up from #10 in H1 to #4 in Q3 with 5.6% share, now #1 in its segment above the Renault Duster (+65%) but also overtaking the Renault Logan (+8%) and Lada Largus (+103%). The Atlas now ranks 6th year-to-date. Notice also the Kia Rio up 788% to #10, the Lada XRAY up 331% to #11, Nissan Almera up 78% to #13, Lada Granta up 80% to #14 and the Nissan Qashqai up 113% to #16.

Previous post: Belarus First Half 2018: Lada up 213% to #2 in market up 70.5%

One year ago: Belarus Q3 2017: VW Polo holds lead, Hyundai up 151%

Full Q3 2018 Top 30 All-brands and Top 25 models below.