Business

Russia New Car Sales Plunged 15.6% in 2025
By Reuters | 13 Jan, 2026

The auto industry suffers from Putin's effort to shift resources toward the Ukraine war with high interest rates and raising scrappage fees.

Sales of new passenger cars in Russia dropped 15.6% in 2025, analytical agency Autostat said on Tuesday, citing data from consulting firm PPK.

Russia's car market plunged in 2022 to Soviet lows after Western automakers left the market due to the war in Ukraine. Sales recovered in 2023 and 2024, but the growth stalled last year as higher interest rates, market saturation and an increase in the scrappage fee hit the market.

In total, 1.326 million new passenger cars were sold in Russia last year, down from 1.571 in 2024, according to Autostat data.

Sales rebounded in the last months of 2025, increasing 10.6% year on year in December after a 5% growth in November, as buyers rushed to purchase a car ahead of scrappage fee hikes in December and January.

The market is expected to weaken at the start of next year due to price hikes, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said in December.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)