The Russian market for new passenger cars declined for the first time in seven months

In August 2026, the Russian market for new passenger cars decreased by 6.5 percent compared to August last year and amounted to 114.3 thousand units. Autostat reports this.

This is the first decline in the last seven months. Deputy General Director for Sales of New Cars at Avilon AG Olga Petrova believes that August was a natural correction after a strong July, which showed the best result of the year. “I would not consider the August result as the beginning of a new downward trend in the Russian car market. Rather, this is a correction after a fairly strong July, which became the best month of 2026,” she said. By the way, in mid-summer, an increase of 5 percent by June and 1.2 percent by July 2025 was recorded.

The decline was influenced by the traditional summer seasonality, high lending costs, buyer caution and changes in discount programs. Pavel Shevchenko, head of the dealership department of the FRESH automotive marketplace, noted that Russians are postponing purchases until the fall in anticipation of a recovery in business activity and a possible reduction in the Central Bank’s key rate in September. By the end of August, purchasing activity began to recover.