Kainova seal: which car brands may leave Russia
The Chinese brand Kaiyi has actually left the Russian market, although officially we are talking about transferring the functions of service and after-sales service to another legal entity. The assembly of models of this brand at Avtotor has been completed, dealers are selling off the remains of cars. Izvestia found out what to do for Russian owners of more than 20 thousand Kaiyi cars and which other Chinese car brands have vague prospects in the Russian Federation.
Passed it on to someone else
According to the official statement of Kai Rus LLC, all functions related to after-sales service and repair of Kaiyi cars sold through the dealer network are transferred to Votur Motor Rus LLC. The new legal entity will continue to provide warranty and service support, as well as supply spare parts to customers.
The company Votur Motor Rus, which distributes Jetour and Soueast cars, confirmed the information to Izvestia and clarified that the owners of Kaiyi cars will be serviced by the remaining dealers of the brand.
Sales are falling
Kaiyi's withdrawal from the Russian market has not been officially announced, but the figures speak for the press service. In 2025, the revenue of Kai Rus LLC amounted to 6.6 billion rubles, which is 34% lower than in 2024, and the net loss in 2025 reached 2.36 billion rubles, an increase of 27%.
In the three months of 2026, only 49 Kaiyi cars were sold in Russia, a drop of 94.6% compared to last year. For the whole of 2025, the brand was able to sell 6,642 vehicles, which is 16.2% less than last year. Sergey Tselikov, General Director of the Autostat analytical agency, drew attention to the fact that the brand's dealers were holding grand sales, lowering prices by 30 percent or more.
We read Kaiyi, we mean Chery
The Kaiyi Auto brand grew out of the Cowin brand, owned by the Chinese Chery. In 2018, Chery sold a 51% controlling stake, which was divided between the commercial structure of the Yibin Provincial government and Sichuan Yibin Push Group, which is owned by local alcohol producer Wuliangye Group.
The assembly of Kaiyi cars at the Kaliningrad Avtotor plant started in early 2023. The lineup consisted of mass-market and relatively inexpensive models: the E5 sedan, compact crossovers X3 and X3 Pro (in fact, two variants of the same model), as well as the mid-size crossover X7 Kunlun. All were built on Chery platforms, and not the newest ones at that. So, the E5 was based on the Chery Arrizo 7 sedan, produced in 2013-2019. The outdated model range, insufficient investments in marketing and problems with variators that emerged during operation did not make the Kaiyi brand popular in Russia. In total, according to Autostat, about 22 thousand cars were sold in Russia. Now sales are coming to naught, dealers are selling off the leftovers. According to the brand's official Russian website, 37 cars are still available throughout Russia.
According to Sergey Tselikov, the assembly of Kaiyi on Avtotor was completed in early 2025. He also noted that even earlier, the Kaliningrad company stopped assembling SWM cars — their history of presence in the Russian market is also coming to an end. This brand actually followed the path of Kaiyi. At the time of preparation of the material, the press service of Avtotor did not comment on the future of the Kaiyi and SWM brands.
In the risk zone
Other Chinese brands, which had previously failed to sell well, are also experiencing problems. Although Jetta claims to be on the market, sales are falling, and the official website and customer support hotline have stopped working. The sales results of BAIC and Wey are also in the red, in quantitative terms they were inferior to Jetta: less than 300 cars in three months.
Oting, according to ASM-Holding, managed to sell only 69 SUVs in three months (-20.7%), VGV — 21 cars (-48.8%), DFSK - only 15 cars (-93.4%) after the distributor change. Sales of the Chinese-British MG brand have dried up — only 12 cars in three months, and its new models are sold under the Moskvich brand. The experiment on introducing retro—style Ora electric vehicles to the Russian market is coming to an end - sales have dropped to several units, and the Russian representative office of Great Wall has failed to make this brand any noticeable on the market. In three months, only one Haima car was sold in Russia and none of the Skywell brand, although the latter's dealers still have cars.
Let's go to growth
At the same time, some brands, which various experts and market players named as candidates for departure, managed to improve their performance. For example, in three months of this year, Bestune immediately increased sales by 473% compared to the same period in 2025. However, the number of cars sold is small — 1,813 units. Sales of premium Rox hybrids in the first quarter showed an increase of 181%, to 180 units.
— Without the Russian assembly and the powerful support of the manufacturer, it is impossible to keep prices and make good loan offers now, — said Sergey Tselikov.
However, not all manufacturers can support sales in the Russian market, said Alexey Podshchekoldin, President of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD).
— We have more than 60 brands warming up. We will see that consolidation will begin this year and next and there will be no more than 30 brands that will really work," Podshchekoldin believes.
Predictable care
Kaiyi's departure was predictable, according to Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem.
— The appearance of this brand on the Russian market and its production in our country is, in fact, one of the first attempts by a Chinese car company to organize the assembly of its Russian models. But releasing the car is half the battle, it still needs to be sold. And here the main difficulties arose, both with the positioning of a new and completely unfamiliar brand for us, and with its marketing. In principle, Kaiyi models are not the worst option for our country. For example, they have a simple naturally aspirated engine, appreciated by our car owners, a spacious interior, and a decent trunk. But no one really told the potential buyer about it — the marketing and PR activity of the brand was extremely weak," said Maxim Kadakov.
There are other potential candidates for entry with low sales in the Russian market, he believes. These include the SWM and BAIC brands, also assembled at Avtotor, Oting, VGV and a number of other brands.
The concept has changed
In 2022, in the context of the need to quickly restart production, contracts for the assembly of machines were concluded on the principle of "whoever agrees to cooperate, we will conclude a contract with him," says Igor Morzharetto, partner at Autostat.
— Four years ago, the Chery concern, of which the Kaiyi brand is a part, had a different concept for the Russian market. Now that it has changed and the parent company is actively transferring its brands to new Russian brands, Kaiyi no longer fits into it. The fact that Kaiyi cars were assembled in our country does not really matter in principle: as far as I know, the supply of car kits to Avtotor has been intermittent, especially recently. Taking into account the appearance of a number of new models in the production line of the Kaliningrad enterprise a few months ago, it was decided to abandon the Kaiyi assembly. Moreover, given the small product range, in which many models are far from the most modern, the sales of these machines were not impressive," the expert noted.
It was not possible to achieve the required level of localization of Kaiyi models so that they would be considered Russian. Several past stages of recycling indexing have significantly affected the price of cars.
Igor Morzharetto suggested that Kaiyi is not the last Chinese car brand that may leave the Russian market. In the mass segment, brands that sell less than 5,000 cars per year are at risk.
Buyers don't just look at the price.
The main problem of Kaiyi is its weak positioning against the background of high competition within the Chinese segment, said Rolf New Car Sales Director Nikolai Ivanov. The Russian market has become more mature: customers today look not only at the price, but also at brand awareness, liquidity, quality of service and brand prospects in the country.
— Brands that have been able to build a full-fledged ecosystem benefit: service, stable supplies, a clear product range and a strong dealer network. Kaiyi had difficulties with this, which affected the demand. At the same time, the departure of the brand does not mean a complete lack of support for customers. As a rule, service and logistics mechanisms are maintained through partner structures. For example, Rolf previously worked with Kaiyi and, if necessary, continues to service customers' cars," Ivanov said.
According to him, the market will continue to consolidate. Small brands with weak sales, limited dealer network and lack of localization or a strong industrial partner in Russia remain at risk.
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