Chinese cars in Russia: which brands sell there and since when

Russia is the market Chinese brands took over fastest and are now losing share in. After February 2022, when most European, Japanese, Korean and North American manufacturers suspended sales and production in the country, Chinese brands filled the space. New passenger-car sales rose 48.4% in 2024 to 1.571 million units, and Chinese brands' share climbed from 43% in the first half of 2023 to about 58% for 2024 as a whole, with one estimate putting the full-year figure near 62%. Haval was the second best-selling brand of any origin in 2024 on a 12.1% share, behind Lada and ahead of Chery on 10%; Geely and Changan were fourth and fifth, Omoda sixth, and Jetour, the Belarusian-Chinese venture Belgee and Tank also made the top ten. Nine of the top ten were Chinese. The trend reversed during 2025: in October 2025 Chinese brands took 49.6% of the market, the first month below half in more than two years.

Local manufacturing is thinner than the sales figures suggest. Great Wall Motor's Haval plant at the Uzlovaya Industrial Park in Tula Region is the substantial exception — GWM describes it as the first complete-vehicle plant a Chinese carmaker built overseas — and Haval cars made there account for close to a tenth of the Russian market. The Moskvich 3 assembled near Moscow is based on a JAC model and is put together from imported kits, with talks reported on moving to semi-knocked-down assembly that would leave only 5% to 10% of a car's value in Russia; the plant is Russian-owned, so it is not listed as a Chinese plant here. Chinese carmakers have generally been reluctant to localise further.

Not every Chinese brand is here officially. BYD has no official Russian distribution: its cars reach dealers through parallel imports, as do Li Auto's. Parallel imports are a large part of the whole market — vehicles arriving through grey channels were 53% of Russia's car imports in January and February 2026, up from 46% in 2025.

The main policy instrument is the recycling fee (утилизационный сбор). Government Resolution No. 1255 of 13 September 2024 indexed the fee for motor vehicles and trailers up by an average of 70% to 85% from 1 October 2024, and set annual indexation of 10% to 20% each 1 January thereafter. A further reform changed how the fee is calculated for imported M1 passenger cars from 1 December 2025 — the base rate follows engine type and displacement while engine power drives a coefficient on a progressive scale. The start was moved back from 1 November to 1 December 2025. Preferential rates were kept for personal imports up to 160 horsepower: 3,400 roubles for a new car and 5,200 roubles for one more than three years old.