What cars do Ukrainian consumers buy?

2022-02-25 17:12:30

Used cars dominate, with Renault and Toyota selling well among new cars.

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In the past two days, Ukraine, which is deeply in the whirlpool, has gathered the eyes of the world, but for most Chinese, the Eastern European country is both familiar and unfamiliar...

According to the data, the Republic of Ukraine is located in the east of Europe, on the north coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It has an area of 603,700 square kilometers, a population of 41.41 million (June 2021, excluding Crimea), and the capital is Kyiv (Kyiv, Киев). In terms of area, Ukraine is between Qinghai Province (722,300 square kilometers) and Sichuan Province (481,400 square kilometers), and in terms of population, it is roughly equivalent to the mainland Fujian Province (41.54 million people in 2020).

In terms of economic volume, Ukraine's total GDP in 2021 is about 200 billion US dollars, which is at the bottom level in Europe, and if calculated according to last year's average exchange rate, Ukraine's GDP is 1.29 trillion yuan, which is equivalent to the GDP scale of the mainland Jilin Province (1.32 trillion yuan), which can rank sixth from the bottom in the mainland.

If from the perspective of per capita GDP, Ukraine's per capita GDP in 2021 is 4532 US dollars, if converted into RMB, it is only 29,200 yuan, and even Gansu Province, which has the lowest per capita GDP in the country, has reached 40,000 yuan, so Ukraine's economic growth is very slow, and the total population has been decreasing for decades.

Based on the above information, we can draw a general conclusion - Ukraine's land area is not bad, but the economy is quite average, so specific to the automotive industry that I am going to discuss today, it should be typical of developing countries.

Today, we will restore the current situation of the automobile market in this mysterious country through some sporadic data.

Total car sales in Ukraine

According to GlobalData analysis, in 2014, the Ukrainian light vehicle market was first hit hard by the global financial crisis. After the economic collapse caused by the Crimean crisis, the market demand for light vehicles fell from a peak of 664,000 units in 2008 to 167,000 units in 2009, and although it grew slowly to about 200,000 units, it fell again to a low of only 50,000 units in 2015.

According to the Ukrautoprom of Ukraine Automobile Manufacturers, the total number of light passenger cars sold in 2015 was 52,821 units, a decrease of 48.6%. The market approached 20th place in the world in 2008 and fell to 66th place in 2015. However, in the years that followed, new car sales in Ukraine gradually picked up, reaching 85,450 units in 2020.

Quoting data from the Ukrainian Automobile Association in January this year, the number of new cars in Ukraine in 2021 was 103,300, an increase of 21% year-on-year. In the whole year, only January, February and October saw a year-on-year decline in purchases. The month with the most licenses purchased was December, with a total of 10,500 units, up 7% year-on-year. It was also the most played in December since 2014.

It is reported that in the first 11 months of 2021, Ukraine registered 626,000 cars of various types, an increase of 41% year-on-year, but 80% of them were second-hand vehicles.

It can be obtained that the annual car circulation in Ukraine is about 600,000 + at the level, but most of them are used cars, the new car trading volume is only about 100,000, the market activity is quite average, and it can also spy the economic downturn of the country.

Distribution of car sales in Ukraine

Due to the severe situation, the price of the new car market in Ukraine began to rise, and sales in January this year fell by 50% month-on-month and 7.2% year-on-year, with only 5323 new cars sold.

In January, Renault replaced Toyota as the number one selling car brand in the Ukrainian market, with sales reaching 904 units, far more than the second-place Toyota's 596. In third place, Chery from China, with a staggering 134.8% sales growth rate, sold 364 vehicles that month.

In addition, the top ten other car brands include Hyundai, Skoda, Peugeot, Nissan, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Kia.

In terms of luxury brands, the best performer is BMW, with sales of 159 vehicles in the month, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 152 vehicles; Audi third, with 151 vehicles, the difference between the three is not large, and it belongs to the first echelon of high-end cars. In addition, the luxury brands that entered the top 30 sales were Land Rover, Volvo, Porsche and Lexus, but sales were only double digits.

Among the top 30 automobile brands in Ukraine, there are a total of three Chinese figures, one is Chery ranked 3rd (364 vehicles), the second is Haval ranked 22nd (54 vehicles), and the third is Jianghuai Automobile (44 vehicles) ranked 24th.

In addition, the LADA (Lada) car from Russia also made the list, ranking 16th, with sales of 130 vehicles.

In terms of specific sales models, the first is Renault's Duster, which is a small size SUV; the second is the Prado; the third is the RAV4 we are familiar with; and the fourth is the Chery Tiggo-2, which is the domestic Tiggo 3x. In addition, the top ten models include Hyundai Tucson, Nissan X-Trail, Renault Coreo, Peugeot 301, Chery Tiggo-4, Chevrolet Cobalt.

From the sales list, it is not difficult to find that the car consumption in the Ukrainian market still shows economic and pragmatic characteristics, the top ten brands that sell the best are volkswagen type car companies, and many affordable and compact models have been launched for the European market.

Chinese cars for the Ukrainian market

When it comes to the Chinese figure of the Ukrainian auto market, Chery has to mention that in January this year, Chery Tiggo-2 and Chery Tiggo-4 models squeezed into the 4th and 9th places in the retail sales list of Ukrainian models, respectively.

Among them, Chery Tiggo 2 rose 25 places month-on-month, accounting for 39% of the sales of the entire brand in the month, and the sales volume of the entire brand in January increased by 134.8% year-on-year. It is worth noting that with the help of two explosive models, Chery Automobile's total sales in the month jumped from the ninth place last month to the third place, accounting for 7.4% of the overall Ukrainian market.

In fact, as early as 2006, Chery Automobile has officially entered the Ukrainian market, and has assembled Chery QQ, Dongfeng Zi, Fengyun 2, Qiyun and other models with local car companies in the form of SKD. It is understood that Chery has also modified the tall figure of local consumers to adapt to the preferences of Ukrainian customers.

In the Ukrainian market, in addition to the Chery brand, there are other independent car companies selling locally, such as Geely, Great Wall, BYD, Jacques and so on. According to the data, Great Wall Motors has realized the localization production of Haval F7, F7x, H9, JOLION and other models in Tula, Russia, and set up a marketing center in Russia; at the same time, the company's sales market in Ukraine has also been laid out.

What cars do Ukrainian consumers buy?

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