In August, the Russian used passenger car market shrank for the second month in a row: according to “Avtostat”, cited by “Kommersant”, Russians bought 518.2 thousand cars — 8.4% fewer than a year earlier and 5.6% fewer than in July. For January–August, used passenger car sales remain 2.2% above last year’s level and amount to 3.95 million cars.
Against this backdrop, Chinese brands in the secondary market grew faster than the market as a whole. According to “Avtostat Info”, the number of registrations of used Chinese cars in August rose by 24.8% year on year and reached 36.3 thousand, while the share of Chinese brands in the secondary market increased from 4.9% to 6.6%.
When comparing “Avtostat Info” data, The Insider showed 36.4 thousand used Chinese cars versus 42.7 thousand new ones — that is, the difference between the segments was about 15%. At the same time, registrations of new Chinese cars in August fell by 34.7% year on year, to 42.7 thousand.
The Insider calculated that a year ago, with the same dynamics, there were about 29.1 thousand used and 65.4 thousand new Chinese cars, and the absolute gap between the segments shrank almost sixfold — from about 36 thousand to 6.3 thousand cars. For January–August 2024, 138 thousand used Chinese cars were registered, in 2025 — 187.4 thousand, and in 2026 — already 254.1 thousand.
The growth of the secondary market for Chinese cars is linked in part to the fact that vehicles massively sold in Russia after Western manufacturers left are now beginning to change hands for the first time. Some market participants interviewed by “Kommersant” explain the overall decline in demand by shortages and rising fuel prices, high car prices, and difficulties with lending, while the association “Russian Automobile Dealers” speaks of seasonal normalization and does not consider two months of decline a sign of a systemic downturn.
The fuel crisis in Russia has continued since late spring: by the end of August, gasoline production had fallen to about 70% of domestic demand, and oil refining after a series of Ukrainian strikes on refineries had dropped to about 3.8 million barrels per day. In August alone, Ukraine carried out at least 21 strikes on Russian refineries — a record number for a single month since the start of the war. Back in September 2025, The Insider wrote about the aging of the Russian vehicle fleet and the growing role of the secondary market amid rising new-car prices; at that time, the average age of a passenger car in Russia had reached 16 years.
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