More than 8% of new cars sold in Russia in February were imported into the country under the parallel import scheme, according to the results of a study by VTB and the automotive marketing agency NAPI.
“In February, about 4,600 new passenger cars sold in Russia were imported under the parallel import scheme (16% higher than in January). In sales of new vehicles, their share exceeded 8%,” the press service of VTB said.
As analysts found out, over 80% of sales of cars imported through parallel imports fall on Japanese and German brands, the most popular of them are Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The top five in sales included Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and Land Cruiser300, Mitsubishi Montero Sport, BMW X5 and ToyotaRAV4.
According to VTB Vice President Vladimir Vysotsky, over the past year, the automotive industry, which has experienced tremendous pressure due to the departure of major foreign manufacturers, began to recover steadily.
“Dealers are establishing new supply chains, expanding the range of brands and models, gradually increasing the volume of parallel imports, which allows them to gradually cover pent-up demand,” he said.
Expansion of the range of cars allowed to stabilize their cost. According to NAPI, in February, prices for six of the top 10 most popular models fell by an average of 0.6% compared to January. The other four averaged 3.7%.
After companies began to leave the Russian market, the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved a list of goods for parallel imports that can be imported into Russia without the consent of the manufacturer or copyright holder. In particular, it included goods from electronics manufacturers, cars, rare earth metals, sports equipment, etc.
Earlier in March, the Ministry of Industry and Trade expanded the list of cars for parallel imports. The list included Citroen, Mazda, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Ford, Genesis, Hyundai, Kia and Dacia models. Since May 2022, there have already been 50 other car brands on the list. Among them are Land Rover, Jeep, Jaguar, Chrysler, Bentley, General Motors, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Dodge, Tesla, ISUZU, etc.