Russia August 2021: Chery up to record #9, Lada Vesta best-seller in market down -17%

Chery is up to a record 9th place in Russia in August.

New light vehicle sales in Russia skid down -17% year-on-year in August to 114.130 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 21.3% to 1.067.890. Local behemoth Lada (-32.1%) is in difficulty this month as it almost doubles the market drop rate to a meagre 17% share vs. 23.6% so far this year. This is less than 2 percentage points above Kia (-12.8%) in much better shape at 15.1% of the market vs. 13.4% year-to-date. Hyundai (-19.2%) scores a solid 12.4% share in third place, distancing Renault (-11.1%) and Toyota (-4%) both resisting very well. Volkswagen (-40.8%) on the other hand suffers as do Skoda (-38.9%) and Nissan (-28.1%). Once again Chery (+163%) is the best performer near the top and records fall: up to an all-time high 9th place overall, the highest ranking ever reached by a Chinese carmaker in Russia, with 2.6% share, another record. Keep in mind BMW and Mercedes don’t share monthly volumes anymore as they only report quarterly and would traditionally rank inside the Top 10 or thereabouts. Just outside the Top 10, Haval (+37.2%) also impresses at #12 while Geely (+25.4%) equals its share record at 1.9% and stays at #13.

The models ranking is impacted by the implosion of the year-to-date leader, the Lada Granta (-52.5%) down to #4 for the month, its lowest ranking since July 2012. As a result the Lada Vesta (-19.2%) scores its first monthly win since March 2019, the Kia Rio (-19.2%) is up to #2 and the Hyundai Creta (-27.9%) up to #3, the nameplate’s second podium finish in the past 3 months. Good hold by the Hyundai Solaris (-10%) in 5th place while the Renault Duster (+15.8%) finally takes advantage of its new generation to gain four spots on July to #6 overall. Below the Lada Niva (-11.6%), the Kia K5 is up one spot to break its ranking record for the second straight month at #8. The Renault Arkana (+21.1%) cracks the Russian Top 20 for the first time at #17 while at #19 the Kia Sorento (-13%) celebrates its first Top 25 finish since February 2015 (#25). The Toyota Prado (+99.7%) also impresses at #21, its highest ranking since August 2016 (#18). For the second consecutive month (and ever), we have a Chinese nameplate in the Top 25: the Geely Atlas (+61.3%) replaces the Geely Coolray at #25 for the month.

Previous month: Russia July 2021: Chery and Kia K5 break into Top 10, Geely Coolray first Chinese in Top 25, sales off -6.5%

One year ago: Russia August 2020: VW, Skoda, Hyundai, Chinese can’t help new decline (-0.5%)

Full August 2021 Top 50 All-brands and Top 25 models below.