Car brands from Russia outstripped Chinese in sales for the first time in three years

Sales of domestic cars in the Russian market outstripped sales of Chinese cars for the first time in three years, starting in March 2023. The analytical agency Autostat reported about this in its Telegram channel on March 17.

Thus, by the end of February 2026, 31.6 thousand new passenger cars of domestic brands were sold in the Russian Federation. The February Chinese result was 31.1 thousand units.

As Dmitry Yarygin, deputy head of the analytics department at the Autostat agency, explained, cars of domestic car brands are repurposed Chinese cars, which they replace.

"Some of them have not just entered the market, but have taken leading positions. A striking example of this is the new product of 2025 — Tenet, which has already entered the top three, while Chery dropped out of the top ten. At the same time, there are all prerequisites for further growth in the share of new Russian brands," the expert noted.

"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 in the day, it was reported that at least nine models of Chinese car brands have left the Russian market since the beginning of 2026. For example, the model range of the Chery brand in Russia has also decreased, and the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max crossover has disappeared from the brand's official website. Information about the Tiggo 4 compact crossover has also disappeared from the brand's website.

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