Sales of electric and hybrid cars in Russia decreased in February

After a rapid increase in sales in 2024, when 6-6.3 thousand electric cars could be sold monthly, in February of this year this segment continued to lose volumes faster than the market as a whole. So, in the last month of winter, 3.1 thousand hybrids and 612 electric vehicles were registered — a total of 555 cars, or 14% less than in January 2025, and 50%, or 3.6 thousand cars, less than in February 2024. This follows from the data of Gazprombank Autoleasing, which was reviewed by Izvestia on March 14.

"Sales of the previous leading models - Li Auto L7, Voyah Free and Zeekr 001 — decreased by 4-5 times compared to the same period last year, and the number of transactions for Li Auto L9 decreased by more than eight times," the expert noted.

At the same time, in the last winter month, hybrids sold by official distributors, such as Wey, Evolute and Seres Aito brands, have been gaining popularity on a low base.

At the same time, three models of the Chinese concern Li Auto were among the market leaders in February. But only the younger model of the family, the L6 hybrid crossover (193 cars), was able to register sales growth relative to the last month of the winter of 2024. Experts attributed this to the fact that a year ago it simply was not yet sold in the Russian Federation. Li Auto L7 showed a multiple drop in sales in annual terms — 339 cars (-78% by February 2024). Voyah Free (264 vehicles, -76%) and Zeekr 001 (121 vehicles, -82%) experienced the same decrease in demand.

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Alexander Kornev, head of the Department for Work with Importers at Gazprombank Autoleasing, said that since August last year, knowing about the upcoming waves of increased recycling fees and calculating the decrease in the attractiveness of goods with new increasing price tags, all car sellers tried to fill their warehouses as much as possible. Thanks to the creation of such stocks, the market offered thousands of cars to customers at more favorable prices every month. This applied not only to the segment of electric cars, but also to all cars in general.

"However, this creation of urgency in anticipation of a rise in price has taken away demand from future periods. In addition, most of the hybrids currently sold from previous batches are now offered without any distributor support. And many dealers are unable to compensate for the rise in price of such cars at their own expense. In this light, it is not at all surprising that after a rapid growth in 2024, in February of this year this segment continued to lose volumes faster than the market as a whole," he added.

In his opinion, buyers will get used to the new prices, and demand will surely improve. Moreover, electric cars continue to be chosen mainly by Russians with high incomes, for whom this is not the only car.

"Nevertheless, in general, this segment is unlikely to grow above 40-45 thousand transactions this year, that is, it will lose about 40% relative to 2024," Kornev concluded.

Earlier, on February 27, Sergey Tselikov, director of the Autostat analytical agency, said that Russia had recorded a historical record for sales of new pickups in a year. By the end of last year, 29.2 thousand such vehicles were sold in the country, with an annual increase of 65%.