Russia November 2018: Lada Granta (+78%) rallies back to #1 thanks to facelift, teases Vesta YTD

Its facelift has been well received: the Lada Granta is #1 in Russia in November.

After growing in the single-dgits in September (+6.2%) and October (+8.2%), new car sales in Russia return to double-digit growth in November and for the 17th time in the past 19 months at +10.1% to 167.494 units, resulting in a year-to-date volume up 13.7% to 1.625.351. Like last month, brand leaders Lada (+15%) and Kia (+30%) frankly outpace the market whereas followers Hyundai (+4%) and Renault (+1%) both underperform. Skoda (+43%) posts the largest gain in the Top 20, with Mitsubishi (+38%), Mazda (+19%), BMW (+17%), Toyota (+16%), Volkswagen (+13%) and Audi (+12%) also solid. Further down, Jeep (+121%), Volvo (+64%), Genesis (+54%), Land Rover (+44%), Mini (+37%), Jaguar (+31%), Porsche (+29%), Suzuki (+22%) and Subaru (+20%) also stand out, but once again it’s the Chinese recent entries that are the most dynamic: Zotye (+333%), FAW (+193%), Geely (+133%) and Haval (+125%) all surge ahead but don’t account for more than 0.3% of the Russian market this month.

Model-wise, just as a first annual win seemed certain for the Lada Vesta (+23%), the Lada Granta (+78%) rallies from behind thanks to its facelift, posting its largest volume since June 2015 at 13.324 scoring its 2nd win in the past 3 months with a wide 3.418-unit advantage over the Vesta. This earns the Granta the #2 spot YTD above the Kia Rio at 93.779 units, that’s less than 3.000 sales below the Vesta. In other words, if the Granta repeats this month’s win with the same margin in December, it would snatch the 2018 pole position away from the Vesta at the last minute… At #4, the Hyundai Creta (+18%) enjoys a 28th consecutive month as Russia’s #1 SUV, snapping the #4 spot YTD off the Hyundai Solaris (+2%). The Toyota Camry (+81%), Kia Cee’d (+56%), Kia Sportage (+50%), Mitsubishi Outlander (+42%), Skoda Rapid (+37%), Mazda CX-5 (+34%) and VW Tiguan (+27%) are the most dynamic in the remainder of the Top 25, while the Skoda Kodiaq posts its 4th month ever in the Top 25 at #24.

Previous month: Russia October 2018: Lada Vesta leads, VW Tiguan breaks into Top 10

One year ago: Russia November 2017: Lada Vesta 42 units off first pole position

Full November 2018 Top 55 All-brands and Top 25 models below.