MOSCOW (Reuters) -The average price of buying a new car in Russia hit a record high in October, rising to 3.43 million roubles ($42,189), Russian analytical agency Autostat said on Thursday, saying consumers were rushing to buy on fears of more price hikes.
The average purchase price was 3.5% higher than in October 2024, 60% higher than in 2021, and double the level five years ago, Autostat said in a statement.
“The main message in people’s minds is: buy now, everything will be more expensive tomorrow,” Autostat cited its head, Sergei Tselikov, as saying.
Russia’s car market plunged in 2022 after Western automakers exited following Moscow’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. That opened the door for Chinese brands, which many Russians had previously been sceptical about, to dominate the market.
In 2024, after two years of gradual market recovery, Russians spent a record 4.9 trillion roubles ($60.27 billion) on cars with sales reaching 1.6 million cars.
Sales in 2025 have been slower, but there are signs of a recovery supported by the central bank’s decision to cut its key interest rate and an expected rise in a scrappage fee, which stimulates consumers to spend more on vehicles.
Sales of new cars in October were at 165,702 units, up 35% on the previous month, and the Association of European Businesses (AEB) has raised its forecast for sales this year to 1.28 million units from 1.25 million and said the result could be even better.
The central bank expects inflation of between 6.5% and 7.0% in 2025.
($1 = 81.3000 roubles)
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
