Came in motion: Russians' car preferences have changed
The volume of the used car market in Russia last year exceeded 6 million cars. More than half of the sales were for older Ladas and inexpensive foreign cars. At the same time, more "fresh" cars are in short supply, experts and market players say. Izvestia" found out what will happen to prices on the secondary market next.
According to the analytical agency "Avtostat", last year 6.037 million cars with mileage were sold, which exceeds the result of 2023 by 6%. Starting from March, about half a million cars with mileage found new owners per month, and only in October the market exceeded the mark of 600 thousand. The reason - in the next indexation of utilization fee, according to "Avtostat".
Leaders of the segment with used cars
Five brands account for 51% of the Russian aftermarket. The leadership is held by Lada cars - almost 1.5 million cars. They also showed the biggest growth - plus 19.2% compared to last year. The share of the domestic brand grew from 22.1% to 24.84%.
Lada is followed by the most popular foreign brand - Toyota with the result of 619.5 thousand cars. Moreover, the result of the Japanese brand is worse than in 2023 by 7.6%. South Korean Kia and Hyundai are located on the third and fourth places and showed an increase in popularity. Thus, the sales of Kia with mileage for 2024 reached 349.5 thousand cars (+9.6%), and Hyundai sales - 332 thousand cars (+5.4%). Nissan closes the top five with the result of 283 thousand cars (-4.8%). It is followed by VW, Chevrolet, Honda and Ford, with the last two brands showing a decline in sales.
The most sought-after car was the Lada 2107, which was discontinued back in 2012. In 2024, sales of the sedan reached 139 thousand cars and showed an impressive growth of 42.5%. The second line of the rating was occupied by Kia Rio with the result of 124.7 thousand units (+12.9%), the third line is occupied by another Lada - hatchback 2114 "Samara-2" (122.7 thousand units, growth by 5.2%). Hyundai Solaris (120.2 thousand units, +9.3%) and Ford Focus (110.4 thousand units, -7.8%) round out the top five. Lada Priora and Niva - sixth and seventh places - crossed the one hundred thousandth milestone. The top ten most popular models are completed by two Toyota models - Corolla and Camry, which went into negative territory, and Lada Granta, which showed sales growth.
- In Russia, the most Lada cars are registered, accordingly, the larger the share of the fleet, the more resales. In my opinion, those cheap cars that were not considered to be assets have moved. That is, someone had a "seven", perhaps they had never driven it, perhaps something in it did not work. No one was going to benefit from this car, but at least some money can be earned for it. These are cars priced at 70-150 thousand rubles. "Solaris" also came into motion, there are a lot of cars on the market after cabs and corporate parks. Quite a lot of right-hand drive "Toyotas", on which there is no living space, - said the editor-in-chief of "Za Rulem" Maxim Kadakov.
They found newer cars
According to the results of December sales, most of the best-selling cars from the top 10 were in the minus both to the previous month and to December 2023. At the same time, experts note the interest in more "fresh" and, as a consequence, more expensive cars.
- By the end of the year, there is indeed an increase in interest in relatively "fresh" cars with mileage costing over 1.5 million rubles. This is due to several factors, including the desire of Russians to invest money in at least some car, which in conditions of economic uncertainty is considered by many as a stable investment," Irina Frank, Managing Director of Frank Auto, told Izvestia.
Car dealers themselves have started to buy out fewer used cars and emphasize models of 5-10 years old with an average selling price of 1.8-3 million rubles. Classic European, Japanese and Korean brands are in short supply, notes Vadim Chernousov, Director of the Used Car Department at Rolf.
- This is due to the extremely small number of cars sold by official dealers in the secondary market until 2022, - he noted.
Among the trends of the last year the representative of "Rolf" fixes the growth of the number of offers on the secondary market and the decrease of the average price in the segment of cars with mileage.
Prices went down
According to "Avtostat", the weighted average price by the end of 2024 reached the mark of 1.17 million rubles, while a year earlier it was 1.07 million rubles. At the same time, according to the general director of Avtostat, Sergei Tselikov, there is a trend towards its decline. He noted that the fluctuation of the weighted average price depends on changes in the market structure. For example, it decreases if there are more cheap cars sold than expensive ones.
In addition, in the segment of cars with mileage this parameter changes smoothly, said Sergei Udalov, executive director of the agency, during the online airing of "Autostat Operativka". The reason is the large share of cars older than 10 years.
- The price for them almost does not change. Due to the fact that there are a lot of them, they affect the weighted average price. And that is why the price is slowly rising. The younger the cars are, the more dynamically the price moves and the more it is related to the price of new cars, - said Udalov. - The weighted average price for new cars exceeded Br3 million and has not changed much compared to last year.
According to Tselikov, it is becoming more and more difficult to sell a car with mileage profitably. This is due to the fact that in the market of new cars this year the price did not grow rapidly. In addition, the share of loans issued for cars with mileage has significantly decreased, noted in "Avtostat".
On the decline in prices in the secondary market say and analysts "Auto.ru Evaluation". According to their data, taking into account cars not older than 15 years, the average price in 2024 decreased by Br284 thousand (12%) and reached Br2 million.
What will happen to the used car market
- It is indeed logical to wait for price reductions in certain segments. This applies primarily to Chinese cars, as well as cars in the price category of Br2-3 million. However, we should not expect a significant reduction in prices, as dealers will always take into account in the price of additional costs due to the high key rate, - says Vadim Chernousov.
According to him, there is a high probability of a decrease in sales in the secondary market in 2025.
- It will not affect or will minimally affect cars in the price segment up to 1.5 million rubles and will occur at the expense of more expensive cars. The reason is the same - the high key rate of the Central Bank, - said Vadim Chernousov.
Most likely, in 2025, Russians will become more active in buying used cars, which will spur the growth of their value, says Irina Frank.
- There is also a probability of a decrease in aftermarket sales - much will depend on the macroeconomic situation and the availability of affordable new models," she said.
