Chinese sellers flooded the market with fakes of Russian car brands

This year, Chinese entrepreneurs began actively copying Russian brands of auto parts and car accessories. If there were almost no such cases last year, then in the first half of the year dozens of fake stores appeared on marketplaces selling counterfeit products under the names of well-known domestic companies. This was announced by market participants in an interview with Izvestia on July 23.

According to Alexey Ivanov, the owner of the Alliance Trucks dealer network, Chinese sellers copy not only individual images and descriptions, but also entire product cards. This allows them to occupy high positions in search results, displacing the original stores to the bottom lines. As a result, customers unknowingly order fakes instead of high-quality components.

"Fraudsters from China, due to the high competition in their country, are exploring new sales markets. Russia, with its highly developed online trading market, is the first contender for their attention," Ivanov said.

According to Emex, fake online sales outlets are most often used to sell high-demand products such as windscreen wipers, brake discs, pads, filters, and technical fluids. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the volume of counterfeit auto parts on the Russian market increased by more than 20%.

Analysts at VMT Consult identify several of the most counterfeit brands: Avtoprestizh (budget car electronics and parking sensors), Sibiria Auto (thermal carpets and preheaters), as well as Technoprofil and Voltage, known for their automotive lighting and electrical equipment.

Brands with a high reputation and good sales on marketplaces are at risk, Ekaterina Kosareva, Managing Partner of VMT Consult, explained. The trend towards cloning famous names is becoming systemic and is observed not only in the automotive industry, added Askar Rakhimberdiev, CEO of the MoiSklad service.

Liquid fawn: there are more fake auto parts and liquids on the market

Experts told how to distinguish counterfeit automotive components from the originals.

On July 11, Katerina Kosmynina, head of e-commerce at Peugeot Citroen Rus, said that a classic sign of counterfeiting in the automotive parts market is a significant deviation from the average market value. Other signs of forgery are the absence of protective elements on the package or their careless application.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.