Mazda CX-5 has become a bestseller among non-Chinese foreign cars in Russia

According to the results of the first two months of 2026, sales of global brand cars in Russia increased 2.5 times (+148%) and amounted to 24.4 thousand units. Moreover, every fifth buyer chose a Chinese-built Mazda CX-5 crossover, said Sergey Tselikov, director of the Autostat analytical agency, in his Telegram channel on March 12.

Sales of the Mazda CX-5 accounted for 18.2%, with a total of 4,444 such vehicles sold in Russia in January-February.

"Last year, there was not so much attention to this model, but now it ideologically fits into the "new scrap", so sales have increased many times," explained Tselikov.

The Toyota RAV4 crossover is in second place in popularity (6.1%), with a result of 1,494 cars. The third was the Toyota Highlander crossover (4.6%; 1,134 units). The top five also included the Skoda Superb liftback (4%; 976 units) and the Kia Seltos crossover (3.1%; 763 units).

The top ten non-Chinese best-selling foreign cars were supplemented by BMW X3, Volkswagen Tiguan, Nissan Qashqai and Audi Q5, as well as Volkswagen Tharu.

"Samurai" took off: why Russians rushed to buy Japanese cars

In February, Tenet replaced Chery, and Mazda and Toyota showed impressive growth in popularity.

Earlier, on March 6, it was reported that after December 1 last year, when the preferential recycling rate for cars with a capacity over 160 hp was abolished, the structure of imports of used cars in Russia changed towards lower capacity. As a result, cars with engines up to 160 hp accounted for almost 95% of imports in January – February.

On March 4, it became known that Lada Granta retained the title of the bestseller of the Russian car market according to the results of February 2026, and the second place was taken by the Tenet T7 crossover, which sold slightly better than the Haval Jolion, the most popular among foreign cars.

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