Russia September 2021: Kia teases Lada for #1, Haval, Chery & Geely break records, sales off -22.6%

The Chery Tiggo 7 becomes the first Chinese model to rank inside the Russian Top 20.

The Russian new car market dives -22.6% year-on-year in September to 119.485 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 15.1% to 1.260.111. The next few months aren’t looking good either as the microchip and semi-conductor crisis continues. As a result we have downgraded our 2021 Forecast for Russia to 1.64m units (+2.8%). Homegrown behemoth Lada (-51.3%) implodes this month and only clings onto the brands pole position for just 152 sales ahead of Kia (-16.5%) resisting much better. Hyundai (-25.9%) falls slightly faster than the market but sports a strong 11.4% share vs. 10.5% so far this year. Toyota (+18.2%) completely bucks the negative trend and is up to #4 overall for the first time since December 2018, hitting new share record at 8.4% with its previous best being 7.8% hit in both February 2014 and March 2020.

Volkswagen (-27.4%), Renault (-46.4%) and Skoda (-33%) follow, all struggling, while GAZ (+16.8%) impresses at #8. The Top 3 Chinese carmakers in Russia all break their volume and share records this month. Haval (+147%) is up to 3.513 sales and 2.9% share at #10, Chery (+134.1%) is up to 3.488 units and 2.9% share also at #11 and Geely (+20%) is up to 2.613 sales and 2.2% share at #13. Despite the significant market loss, year-on-year gainers are fairly common further down the charts and include Chevrolet (+225%), Genesis (+173.6%), Opel (+123.3%), Lexus (+54.6%), Peugeot (+36%), Cadillac (+34.3%), FAW (+21.8%), Citroen (+20.9%), Mazda (+19.1%), Audi (+14.5%), Jeep (+5.8%) and Suzuki (+3.9%). 

Over in the models ranking which now includes LCVs, the Lada Vesta (-24.3%) repeats at #1 despite a hefty loss, distancing the Kia Rio (-15.3%) and a reinvigorated Hyundai Solaris (+15.7%). The GAZ Gazelle (+13%) appears at #4 ahead of the VW Polo (-30.5%) and Skoda Rapid PA II (+6.7%). Still leader year-to-date, the Lada Granta (-69.9%) falls even further this month to #7 while the Hyundai Creta (-50.6%) halves its September 2020 volume but remains the most popular SUV in the country above the Toyota RAV4 (-17.6%) and Renault Duster (-1.5%). Great performance by the renewed Kia Sorento (+27.4%) up two spots on August to #17. For the third month in a row there is a Chinese model in the Russian Top 25 and it’s a different one again: the Chery Tiggo 7 (+414.7%) becomes the first Chinese fare to rank inside the Top 20 at #20. Finally, notice the Toyota Prado (+382.2%) shooting up year-on-year at #26.

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

One year ago: Russia September 2020: Volumes up 3.4%, Skoda (+31%) shines, Geely up to Chinese record #12

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