Bulat Zakiyev: cars are 20% up in price in the last two months, but no rise is expected

Imports of new passenger cars in Russia reduced by a third in April and showed the lowest number in the last 10 months — new rules of calculating recycling tax for cars from the Eurasian Economic Union launched on 1 April because the reason. Despite this, co-founder of Car-Traid car dealership in Kazan Bulat Zakiyev told Realnoe Vremya that there are still clients who are ready to buy cars at higher prices from Europe. Read more about it in Realnoe Vremya’s report.

Car imports to Russia reduced from all the markets

57,800 cars were imported to Russia in April, which is 34% less than in March. As Autostate states, this is the lowest number since June 2023 — imports totalled 55,700 cars. The indicator suddenly dropped due to the new rules of calculating recycling tax for cars from the Eurasian Economic Union.

Talking about parallel imports that was legalised in Russia in the spring of 2022, the co-founder of Car-Traid claimed that the decrease in supplies happened from all the markets.

“Parallel import from European countries, America and Japan also decreased, first of all, due to the ban on direct import of cars to the Russian Federation and new weekly restrictions. The cars imported from these countries are also applied the new method of recycling tax calculation and their price rises,” he stressed.

Imports from China fell too.

“This is especially applicable to e-cars, their prices increased significantly due to the novelties. Now customs clearance can be done only in Russia. Nevertheless, it is necessary to note that the quality of new Chinese cars is good, they don’t lose to the ‘standard’ brands the Russian consumer got used in the price segment and they are seizing the market with their price, modification and variety,” the expert noted.

“There are still those who are ready to buy cars from Europe for a new higher price”

The whole situation, according to Bulat Zakiyev, affected the demand. It has recently shrunk because of the price rise and higher demand in February and March.

“There is a buzz, and people bought everything before the new decree came into force,” the expert stressed.

Now clients are considering buying a new Chinese car more often.

“But there are still those who are ready to buy cars from Europe for a new higher price. The demand for Chinese cars is growing because more dealerships and service centres are opening for the consumer’s convenience,” the co-founder of Car-Treid concluded.

Autostate expects imports to reduce in general.

“Indicators of new passenger cars are still above last year’s numbers. But we will reach last year’s diapason or even go down by July. The number of imported cars will be a bit higher in 2024 in general than in 2023, but insignificantly,” claimed Director of the agency Sergey Tselikov.