Sales of new Japanese brand cars in Russia have tripled

By the end of January-May 2026, 30.9 thousand new passenger cars of Japanese brands were registered in Russia. This is almost three times more (+195.5%) than in January-May of last year, when 10.5 thousand new cars of Japanese brands were registered. Sergey Tselikov, director of the Autostat analytical agency, told about this in his Telegram channel on June 17.

Toyota will remain the most popular Japanese brand in the Russian market. In five months, 12.7 thousand cars of this brand were sold, which is 98% more than in January-May last year.

Mazda came in second place with a score of 9330 units. The growth compared to the same period last year was 9.5 times (+855%). Honda rounded out the top three (2,770 units; +328%). Next are Nissan, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Subaru. Infiniti and Daihatsu rounded out the top ten.

The expert noted that 9% of all new Japanese cars sold in Russia this year were right-hand drive. At the same time, 77% of the brand's cars were assembled in China.

Tired of China: sales of European car brands increased in Russia

Russians are buying up BMW, Volkswagen and Audi

The day before, the expert said that the growth in sales of European brand cars in the Russian market in 2026 does not mean that buyers are massively abandoning Chinese cars. Rather, we are talking about restoring demand for familiar brands such as BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, whose audience remained loyal even after the manufacturers left Russia.