Skillful hands: half of Chinese-made cars are assembled in Russia
Over the past six months, sales of Russian-built Chinese cars have increased by 40%, and the number of brands that have localized production in our country has reached 18. Such data is contained in a study by Gazprombank Autoleasing, made specifically for Izvestia. Experts believe that over the next six months, sales of locally assembled Chinese cars will fall. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Checking by VIN number
In the first six months of 2026, 130.9 thousand Chinese locally assembled cars were sold, 40 thousand units, or 42% more than a year earlier, Gazprombank Avtolizing said. Localized cars account for half (54%) of the total sales of Chinese car brands in Russia, while in the same period last year their share reached 32%. If we take all the Russian-made cars sold, then the share of "Chinese" accounts for 35%.
In their study, analysts focused on VIN numbers and took into account only brands from China, excluding brands created for the Russian Federation like Jeland, Tenet and Esteo, as well as the Italian-Chinese SWM.
They sell Russian
According to the results of the first six months of 2026, Haval remains the leader of the local assembly. During this period, it sold 78.9 thousand cars assembled at Russian enterprises, which is 76% more than a year ago. In the first half of 2025, 70% of the brand's cars had a Russian VIN, but now their share has increased to 94%.
In addition to Haval, GWM also launched a local assembly of Tank 300 SUVs in Kaliningrad in the spring. In six months, we managed to sell 92 such cars.
In the first half of last year, Chery sold 27.5 thousand cars with a Russian VIN and took second place in the overall ranking of Chinese brands of Russian assembly. Now the business has been reoriented under the Russian Tenet brand, and sales of cars under the Chinese "surname" are expected to be curtailed, according to Gazprombank Car Leasing. From January to June, only 3.5 thousand were sold. Chery, assembled in Russia, is minus 87%.
At the same time, two Chery sub—brands entered the top three - Jaecoo (12.3 thousand cars assembled in Russia, an almost 13-fold increase over the year) and Jetour (11.2 thousand, + 128%). At Jaecoo, 92% of the cars sold were assembled at the AGR plant near St. Petersburg. A year ago, this share was only 10%. Jetour has 71% of cars with Kaliningrad registration (+40%).
The brands owned by Chery also organized the assembly of their models in Russia. Thus, Omoda sold 6.4 thousand C5 and C7 crossovers assembled in Kaliningrad or near Kaluga. This is almost three quarters (74%) of all brand cars sold.
In the first half of the year, the Exeed brand sold 5.4 thousand crossovers with passports issued by the plant in Esipov near Moscow, which accounts for 69% of total sales. Soueast crossovers (941 units, 95%) continued to receive a start in life in Kaliningrad.
Voyah sold 7.5 thousand new cars from January to May 2026, 97% of which had a Russian VIN.
Completing the top ten Chinese brands developing local assembly are two representatives of Avtotor: Changan with 3,000 vehicles (14% of total sales) and BAIC with 879 vehicles (100%)
Haval Jolion takes the lead in the "model standings", followed by three more models of the Chinese brand localized in Russia: M6, F7 and H3. Jetour Dashing is in fifth place. The top ten bestsellers are Jaecoo J7, Voyah Free, Haval Dargo, Jaecoo J6 and Omoda C5.
Waiting for a fall?
Increasing local production of cars is one of the main tasks set for key players in the car market today, says Alexander Kornev, Head of the Department for Work with importers at Gazprombank Automotive Leasing. And these plans are being confidently implemented.
— However, in the next six months, the share of sales of Chinese locally assembled cars is likely to fall. The customers of Chery and its numerous sub—brands will increasingly begin to redistribute between new Russian brands produced in cooperation with Chinese partners," suggested Alexander Kornev.
Every company has its own logic
It is not at all necessary that the share of Chinese-brand cars assembled in Russia will decrease, says Igor Morzharetto, partner at Autostat.
— Each Chinese company has its own policy on the Russian market. Someone goes under the new Russian "umbrella", and someone remains under his own. Everyone who works here says they are considering Russian localization options. Of course, everything is being done to circumvent recycling. At the same time, cars produced here are more expensive than imported ones, the expert believes.
It is obvious that there will be more Russian brands, and fewer Chinese ones, says Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine.
"The Chinese are localizing their models, and it doesn't matter what they call them, Chinese or new Russian words," he notes.
Despite the fact that many brands did not advertise the organization of production in Russia, they needed to test the technology with existing models and get part of the recycling fee back, Kadakov notes.
Soothing logic
Most likely, both trends will coexist in the market in the future, says Ivan Trandin, the owner of the KM/H group of companies.,
— On the one hand, some models really leave the statistics of Chinese brands, not because production stops, but because the business "moves" under the Russian brand. An illustrative example is Chery, which a year ago ranked second among the "Chinese" of the Russian assembly, and now the bulk of the same capacity has been reoriented to the Tenet brand. Sales of Chery with a Russian VIN dropped by almost 87% in six months, but the line did not disappear, it simply changed the name in the passport. On the other hand, new players are actively entering localization. Therefore, the total volume of localized production is unlikely to drop sharply, but the composition of participants will definitely change: new projects, including those starting under their own Russian brands, will take the place of the lines being folded under the old name," said Ivan Trandin
According to him, the logic of what is happening with Chery and Tenet looks reassuring. This is not about shutting down production, but about rebranding at the same facilities.
— If the factory continues to produce the same platform and the same nodes under a new name, the component supply channel remains, only the nameplate and, possibly, part of the marketing changes. Rather, the risks may arise for owners of cars with a "pure-blooded" Chinese VIN of old batches, if imports of a particular model really curtail. But this is not a question of localization, but of parallel imports in general," Ivan Trandin noted.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
