Sales of BMWs assembled in Russia have almost tripled in 2025

Sales of new BMW cars assembled in Russia have almost tripled in 2025 to 145 units. This was reported on February 20 by Kommersant with reference to the registration data of cars with the State Traffic Inspectorate.

According to the sources of the publication, we are talking about BMW cars manufactured at the Kaliningrad Avtotor plant: they are made from machine kits left after the German company left the Russian Federation and the termination of its cooperation with the Russian car assembly plant in 2022. Prior to that, the BMW X5, X6 and X7 crossovers were officially produced in Kaliningrad.

The interlocutors of the publication note that BMW cars assembled in the Russian Federation are cheaper than imported ones. They are sold through dealers, but not everyone agrees to such deals in order to maintain good relations with the distributors of the brand. It is possible that in 2026 the assembly will be completed after the exhaustion of machine sets and components.

Back in March last year, BMW announced that the concern was not responsible for the cars assembled at the Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad after the company left the Russian Federation. The German manufacturer stressed that cars assembled at the plant, which is not part of the concern's unified production network, "cannot meet the strict quality and safety standards of the BMW Group."

You can't forbid living beautifully: Russians are buying up premium European cars

Sales of luxury cars of European brands in the Russian Federation exceeded the pre-sanctions level

As reported on February 12, BMW instructed its Chinese retail division to "categorically object to any potential export of cars to Russia." The letter from the automaker notes that if the cars do get into the Russian Federation according to the "gray" schemes, "it will happen outside our sphere of influence and also directly against our will," reports Reuters.

On January 26, it became known that 64 thousand BMW cars were imported to Russia in 2025, which is 44% more than a year earlier. Imports of new cars increased by a third (+34%) to 18,000 units, while used-car imports doubled (+49%) to 46,000 units. The share of new Chinese-built BMWs was just over 40%, and less than 10% among used ones.

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