Sales of new passenger cars in Russia: how many are bought, whose brands and where
· Trade
In 2024, Russia sold 1,301,585 new passenger cars. This is 65.6% more than in 2023 (786,157 units), and 2.4 times more than in 2022 (539,393). In retail sales of new cars, foreign brands accounted for 55.1%, domestic 18.6%. Below these figures are broken down by year, brand and region, and at the end a picture of the first half of 2026 in rubles is added. Under each section there is an interactive chart that can be opened and spun yourself.
How many new passenger cars are sold in Russia
Rosstat publishes the table "Sale of passenger (new) cars" in the appendix to the collection "Trade in Russia". Over three years the number of cars sold grew as follows:
| Year | New passenger cars sold, units |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 539,393 |
| 2023 | 786,157 |
| 2024 | 1,301,585 |
Each year the increase was larger than the previous one. In 2023 the market grew by 45.7%, in 2024 by 65.6%. For comparison: 2022 was a poor year, and 539 thousand cars is the base from which all subsequent growth is calculated. Earlier years are not in this table, so it is impossible to compare with record years before 2022 using it. The table and chart can be opened here.
Where the most cars are sold
The regional breakdown in this table is brief: Rosstat shows only those subjects where data are published. Yet it is noticeable. In Moscow sales rose from 122,403 cars in 2022 to 601,303 in 2024, almost fivefold. This is 46.2% of all sales in the country. Samara region delivered 455,779 cars versus 184,127 in 2022, i.e., 35.0% of the Russian total. Together the two regions account for 81.2% of everything that appeared in the table for 2024.
This does not mean that 81% of Russians buy cars in Moscow and Samara. The data are based on the seller's place of registration: wholesale and dealer companies may be listed in one region while the cars go to dozens of others. For a picture of "who buys where" another table is more useful, described below.
Whose cars are bought: foreign and Russian brands
Rosstat separately calculates the share of new passenger foreign cars and new domestic cars in retail sales (as a percentage of the corresponding product group). For Russia the dynamics looks like this:
| Year | Foreign brands, % | Domestic brands, % |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 50.1 | 6.8 |
| 2020 | 53.8 | 8.9 |
| 2021 | 65.2 | 10.0 |
| 2022 | 52.8 | 12.1 |
| 2023 | 43.0 | 17.1 |
| 2024 | 55.1 | 18.6 |
The share of foreign cars swung like a pendulum. By 2021 it rose to 65.2%, fell to 52.8% in 2022, dropped to a minimum of 43.0% in 2023 and returned to 55.1% in 2024. Where it came back from is not explained by the table: it shows the share, not the country of origin or import channel. The dynamics by federal districts and regions can be seen in the dataset.
Domestic brands moved upward almost without pauses. From 6.8% in 2019 the share grew to 18.6% in 2024, i.e., 2.7 times. The sharpest jump occurred in 2023: from 12.1% to 17.1%.
The two shares together give 73.7% for 2024. What occupies the remaining quarter of the group is not disclosed in Rosstat tables, so we will not speculate. The list of domestic brands by region opens with one click.
In which regions Russian cars are preferred
The spread across districts in 2024 is huge. The share of domestic cars in retail sales of new vehicles was:
- North Caucasus District: 60.8%;
- Ural District: 27.3%;
- Volga District: 24.2%;
- Northwestern District: 17.6%;
- Southern District: 15.5%;
- Siberian District: 11.4%;
- Moscow: 7.5%;
- Far Eastern District: 6.5%.
The picture is mirrored for foreign cars: in Moscow they are 56.8%, in St. Petersburg 51.2%, and in the North Caucasus District only 34.1%. The highest share of foreign brands in 2024 is in the south of the country: 72.8% in the Southern District. In the Far East foreign cars accounted for 53.9% of sales, while domestic ones only 6.5%.
How many cars are produced in Russia
Sales are one side, production the other. Rosstat in the “Russia and the World” section publishes passenger car production in thousands of units, including assembly:
| Year | Production in Russia, thousand units |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,210 |
| 2015 | 1,215 |
| 2018 | 1,565 |
| 2019 | 1,525 |
| 2020 | 1,262 |
| 2021 | 1,365 |
| 2022 | 451 |
| 2023 | 543 |
| 2024 | 763 |
From 2018 to 2022 production fell by 3.5 times: from 1,565 to 451 thousand cars. In 2023 and 2024 it partially recovered, to 763 thousand, but this is still 56% of the 2021 level and less than half, 48.8%, of the 2018 level. Rosstat provides the 2023 and 2024 data in the footnotes to the table. The table with countries shows how small Russian production is on the world stage: in 2022 China produced 10,450 thousand cars, Japan 6,588 thousand, Germany 3,480 thousand.
In the latest table of the “Industrial Production in Russia. 2025” section the gap in 2023 is visible: Russia 543 thousand, Germany 4,109 thousand, China 10,863 thousand. China produces 20 times more. Kazakhstan, which made 65.1 thousand cars in 2020, reached 134 thousand by 2023, i.e., twice as many in three years. The same table is also on the website.
Comparing sales and production for 2024, one must remember the different nature of the numbers. Production of 763 thousand units is assembly at Russian plants. Sales of 1.3 million are retail deliveries of new cars, and the half‑million gap is covered by imports. There is no direct “produced plus imported” balance in these tables, so Rosstat does not allow a more precise split of cars by origin.
What is happening with sales in 2026
Rosstat evaluates the first half of 2026 in rubles, not in units. Retail sales of passenger cars for January–June amounted to 2.08 trillion rubles. This is 23.6% higher in comparable prices than for the same period in 2025. Only for the first quarter, sales were 918.7 billion rubles, and quarterly growth was 15.3%. So the market accelerated in the second quarter: for April–June it reached 1,159.5 billion rubles.
Three cities accounted for more than a third of sales:
- Moscow: 295.2 billion rubles (growth 33.2%);
- Moscow region: 258.8 billion rubles (growth 6.9%);
- Saint Petersburg: 197.6 billion rubles (growth 49.4%).
Together this is 751.6 billion, or 36.2% of the country's total retail. The fastest growth among large regions is in Voronezh region (157.9%, 81.4 billion rubles) and Saint Petersburg, while Krasnodar Krai and Samara region hardly move: 100.3% and 101.2%. The full list by region can be sorted and compared for both periods.
Frequently asked questions
How many new passenger cars were sold in Russia in 2024?
According to Rosstat, 1,301,585 units. This is 2.4 times more than in 2022, when 539,393 cars were sold.
Which cars are bought more in Russia: foreign or Russian?
Foreign ones. In 2024 their share in retail sales of new passenger cars was 55.1%, Russian brands 18.6%. But the gap is narrowing: in 2019 it was 50.1% versus 6.8%.
How many cars are produced in Russia?
In 2024, 763 thousand units, including assembly. In 2018 it was 1,565 thousand, in 2022 it was 451 thousand.
Which region buys the most cars?
In ruble terms, Moscow leads: for the first half of 2026 there were passenger car sales of 295.2 billion rubles. It is followed by Moscow region (258.8 billion) and Saint Petersburg (197.6 billion).
Why does Rosstat's table show so many cars for Moscow and Samara?
The data are based on the seller's registration location, not the buyer's. A dealer network registered in one region can sell cars across the whole country.
Brief
- In 2022-2024, sales of new passenger cars increased 2.4 times, to 1.3 million units.
- Foreign brands hold 55.1% of retail, Russian brands rose from 6.8% to 18.6% since 2019.
- Domestic production fell from 1,565 to 451 thousand units (2018-2022) and recovered to 763 thousand in 2024.
- In the first half of 2026 the market grew by 23.6% in comparable prices, more than a third of sales come from Moscow, the region and Saint Petersburg.
- All figures in the article are taken from Rosstat tables, collected on roschart.ru.