The Russo-Ukrainian War was officially launched, and the resulting series of effects was inevitable, especially in a country with a large influence on a global scale, such as Russia, whose every move would have a certain impact on all walks of life. Of course, the automotive market is no exception.
As we all know, Russia's automobile industry is relatively backward, and even in the Soviet era, their automobile industry was lackluster. The former Muscovites, Volgas, Boronez, and Lada are known as the four great breaks of Eastern Europe. Nowadays, only Lada Motors is left, and Renault Also has the control of Rada, which simply means that Russia does not have many local car brands, and the auto market is more composed of foreign car companies. At present, the largest proportion of russian car series is Korean cars, and the rest of Volkswagen and Renault are also at the top of the sales list.
With the escalation of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Western countries led by the United States have begun to further increase economic sanctions against Russia, which is bound to greatly affect local car sales. According to the head of operations of the Chrysler Group, in the past, most of the auto parts were shipped from Europe to Ukraine and then into Russia, but now the situation is turbulent, the situation is completely different, and it is obvious that another way must be found.
The rise and fall of the auto market is often inseparable from the economy, and in the past few years, Western countries have imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia, resulting in a decline in national income, which in turn led to a decline in the auto market. According to the data, Russian cars have shown a downward trend since 2014, from 2.276 million units at that time to 1.434 million units in 2020, and the situation is not optimistic.
At the same time, sanctions by Western countries have also made local people resentful of their countries' car brands. For example, U.S. car companies have almost abandoned the Russian market.
In the past few years of sanctions imposed by Western countries, it has created the convenience of independent brands entering the Russian automobile market. In recent years, independent brands have begun to grow rapidly in the local area, according to statistics, in 2021, the sales volume of independent brands will be 115,700 vehicles, accounting for 7% of the local market share, and the growth rate is still very amazing. Among them, Great Wall Motors attaches great importance to the Russian market, not only exporting a large number of models, but also building a production plant in the local area.
In contrast, the situation in Ukraine is even less optimistic, because it is far from Russia's military strength, so Ukraine has been suppressed, even after the end of the battle, its car market is in a state of chaos. According to several years of statistics, Ukraine's car sales in 2021 are only 100,000, and only Chery has successfully entered the top ten of the list, but sales are only thousands. At present, the mainstream auto market in Ukraine is still dominated by Japanese, Korean and Lada.
However, Ukraine's per capita income is lower than Russia's, and consumer demand for car purchases will lean towards some cost-effective models as much as possible, which is exactly what domestic independent brands are best at doing, which will also have the opportunity to help Chinese brands complete their rapid rise in the local area in the future.
On the whole, the impact on the automotive industry after the war began is still relatively large, and if there is no accident, the economies of Ukraine and Russia will further decline this year, and car sales will be reduced again.