The market has decided: which cars from China have stopped attracting Russians
According to the results of four months of this year, sales of 17 car brands at once showed a serious drop. Among the "losers of the Russian market", Sergey Tselikov, General Director of the Autostat agency, named not only brands with traditionally weak sales, but also brands that have recently been popular. Izvestia investigated the reason why some automakers have gone into negative territory in the growing market.
Leaders of the Fall
Analyzing the sales statistics for four months in reverse order, Tselikov stressed that he did not take into account brands with "individual" registrations and those without official representative offices in Russia.
The leaders of the "negative growth" were Ora electric vehicles (-97%) and Kaiyi budget brand (-96%), followed by SWM (-92%). If the first two are actually leaving the Russian market, then SWM is still ready to compete, said the CEO of Autostat.
He explains the high negative dynamics of Chery (-88.5%), one of the recent market leaders, by replacing its models with the Russian brand Tenet.
BAIC also has no plans to leave Russia, which is now selling five times worse than at the beginning of last year (-81%).
The Aito/Seres brand is doing four times worse than last year (-76%). Sales of Foton pickups (-57%) and the JAC passenger car range (-53.5%) fell more than twice. At a similar level, sales of Wey hybrids dropped (-53.4%).
Xcite brand registrations (-57%) are on a downward trend, as the assembly of two crossovers has been discontinued and dealers are selling off the leftovers. Tselikov named several other brands whose sales fell in the range of 40-50%. These are Livan (-49%), Jetta (-48.5%), Soueast (-47.6%), Oting (-47%), Lixiang (-47%), Dongfeng (-44%), Omoda (-42%). In 2024, Lixiang cars were the most popular hybrids, Omoda in 2024 occupied the sixth place in the list of best-selling brands on the Russian market, but in 2025 it left the top 10.
At the same time, according to Autostat, 382.5 thousand new passenger cars were sold in Russia over the past four months, which is 9.6% more than in January – April last year.
— Everything happens as in communicating vessels: when someone grows quickly, someone else also falls quickly, - said Tselikov.
Everyone who wanted to, bought it.
Earlier, he attributed the drop in Lixiang sales to increased prices. Ex-Head of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD) Oleg Moseev clarified that Lixiang's share has been falling for the fifth month in a row after a jump in November 2025, which was due to the expectation of another increase in recycling. He attributes the decline in sales of this brand to the rise in car prices. An equally important factor is the continued lack of model updates.
— It's not about restyling, but about the new generation. Everyone who wanted to buy Lixiang has done so for a long time, especially during the first rush. Even considering the rather high loyalty to the brand among customers, the brand needs to be updated. Then those who bought a car three or four years ago will replace it," said Moseev.
Everyone who wanted to bought Lixiang, including as a replacement for the departed premium brands, said Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem.
— They were even bought by those who actually don't really like this premium, because it also needs to be serviced. Those who appreciate a real premium don't look at these cars anyway. Or they buy them for their wife or sisters, but they still drive BMWs and Mercedes," he said.
As for Omoda, a decline in sales of a particular brand does not always mean a drop in interest in the segment itself, says Yuri Blinov, Marketing Director at Avilon AG.
— Within the large Chinese automotive groups, there is now an active redistribution of demand between similar brands and models — Jaecoo, Exeed, Chery and others. For consumers, this is often one big Chinese car choice, and for statistics, it's different brands," he said.
Omoda is undergoing a transformation stage related to the localization of production and a change in the model range, explained Nikolai Ivanov, Rolf's New car Sales Director. According to him, the current decline should be considered as a temporary phenomenon.
— Aito has not updated its model range for a long time, cars remain expensive, and there are practically no subsidized loan programs or other strong sales tools. In addition, the brand's design and positioning have not generated steady demand in Russia," Ivanov said.
The statistics are shocking
The statistics provided by Sergey Tselikov look shocking, especially against the background of the recent boom of Chinese brands, said Irina Frank, CEO of Frank Auto. The fall of Aito, Lixiang and Omoda is not a failure of specific teams or technologies, but a consequence of the systemic crisis of an overheated market and a sharp change in economic conditions. First of all, the cost broke the situation, the expert believes.
— The main impact came at the end of last year after the increase in recycling rates. For hybrid and electric Aito and Lixiang models, the logistical leverage and new duties have made the price of the final car almost prohibitive. For example, the same Lixiang L7, which until recently was considered an alternative to European premium crossovers, rose in price by almost 20% when delivered through official channels. Naturally, this immediately cut off the demand," Irina Frank noted.
According to her, the Central Bank's high key rate makes car loans a luxury, and the general market squeeze primarily affects the so-called mood brands.
— Yes, Aito/Seres has a strong team, and Lixiang was popular with parallel imports, but in the current conditions, a rational buyer often chooses either budget Lada or Haval, or postpones the purchase. Trendiness and technology have taken a back seat to the issue of cost of ownership and service availability. Therefore, what we are seeing now is not the death of brands, but a severe market correction," said Irina Frank.
The stage of deep restructuring
Yuri Blinov admitted that he would not call the brands listed by Tselikov losers: for the current situation in the Russian car market, this is too simplistic an interpretation.
— Today, the market is undergoing a deep restructuring, where success is determined not only by the product itself, but by the entire ecosystem around it: service, financial programs, dealer network, liquidity and customer trust. The market now works like a system of communicating vessels: if a localized product, affordable accessories, clear warranty and strong dealer support are growing sharply in one part, then brands with less obvious value for the customer inevitably sink in the other part," Blinov explained.
Among the reasons for the decline in sales, he cites the effect of a high base. Some Chinese brands, especially Aito, Lixiang, Omoda, grew last year on the wave of novelty, limited choice and strong interest in new Chinese high-tech cars. The high key rate and expensive loans have a particularly strong impact on the segment of expensive hybrids and high-tech models. Another reason is the oversaturation of the market with Chinese brands.
— In a short time, too many brands and models with similar positioning have appeared in Russia. For the client, this is no longer a wealth of choice, but noise. In this situation, the winners are not those who simply brought the car to the market, but those who were able to build a full-fledged customer support system: a brand, a well-developed dealer network, service, warehouse availability, financial products and communications. The market is now punishing weak systems, not weak logos," said Yuri Blinov.
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