In Russia, since the beginning of the partial mobilization, the demand for cars imported from other countries by higher-bidding entrepreneurs has decreased by 30%, as part of the parallel imports partially legalized by the government (in terms of cars only for individuals). The author of the Fox rules YouTube channel, which imports and sells used cars, blogger Elena Lisovskaya spoke about this in an interview with socialbites.ca.
“Demand has dropped a lot. Our sales are down by about a third, and sales by dealers – by 70%,” Lisovskaya shared.
A similar decrease in demand for cars was noted by Dmitry Rogov from the company RogovMobil, which specializes in turnkey delivery of cars from South Korea. But according to him, the activity of the receivers decreased less after the start of a special military operation.
“As always in any shock situation, people panic. Everything that worries people and directly concerns everyone causes market volatility, and then failure – demand has dropped, people are busy with other things. This time the volatility and the volatility of the decline were not the same as in March,” he said.
In many ways, the reason for the current situation in the market is that citizens of the middle class and above, leaving Russia, are trying to quickly sell all valuable things, including cars. Sergey Burgaziev, an independent automotive industry consultant, explains that as a result, the supply in the secondary market has increased.
The source also adds that the same people can create effective demand for new cars or used cars in the middle and expensive segments after a while.
“It turned out that those who left had officially reduced demand. The higher bid is absolutely right – those who can replace the car in the next two months have left. This trend will certainly continue,” Burgazliev assured.
lease to a car dealership
According to Andrey Olkhovsky, Managing Director of Avtodom Group of Companies, more offers came in for the purchase of cars, as customers tried to sell durable goods quickly, the events of September affected the decline in demand for most brands.
In contrast, Andrey Terlyukevich, Managing Director of the AvtoSpetsCentre Group of Companies, states that until September 20, the demand at the company’s dealerships showed stable dynamics.
and since September 21, the situation has changed significantly, despite the wide range of cars.
Family “Koreans”
The Russians began to be less interested in European cars – spare parts for these cars are more difficult to get due to sanctions. Elena Lisovskaya said that now customers are likely to pay more attention to Kia, Hyundai, Genesis, Toyota and Mitsubishi brands.
At dealerships, the same cars can cost up to 1 million rubles more than higher offers.
“The price differential between repurchases of a car and dealers is largely dependent on the appetite for the latter. For example, we sell the high-end Hyundai Santa Fe for an average of one million rubles less than at a dealer. The lower the cost of the car, the smaller this difference, for example, a Hyundai Tucson dealer will cost 500 thousand rubles more, ”explains Lisovskaya.
According to the auto expert, importing cars from Belarus and Kazakhstan has become unprofitable, and imports from Europe, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea are complicated by a long wait.
“Belarus isn’t doing us any good because it’s under sanctions like we are – they don’t specifically supply them cars and prices are going up and all the interesting used cars have been removed from there.
“The golden age of buying cars abroad is over,” he said.
Dmitry Rogov admits that by autumn, Belarus and Kazakhstan have become scarce in terms of car selection and are no longer as interesting for businessmen as they were in late summer or spring.
“Belarus is now used as a transit hub for cars from Germany, the United Arab Emirates and the USA. The choice of cars in Germany remains high, but it is difficult and risky to bring a car from there, because if the borders are closed, the car may not reach the Russian Federation, ”warns the interlocutor.
According to an auto expert, the Russians mainly order large crossovers from South Korea that are suitable for family drivers – the latest generation Hyundai Palisade and Kia Mohave.
The most popular model now, according to the company’s statistics, is the latest fourth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe.
“The more expensive the car, the bigger the price gap with dealers. If you buy a Kia Optima released in 2018-2020, the difference was 150-200 thousand rubles. At the current dollar exchange rate (about 61 rubles), there will be almost no difference in money, but the buyer will get a car that is richer in options.
In the case of the BMW X5 or the BMW X7, the difference could be more than a million rubles,” says Rogov.
The cost of used cars in August-September increased by about 20% compared to May-June, but now it is starting to fall, says Sergey Burgazliev. The fact is that there are practically no liquid cars left on the market.
“The most striking thing is the shrinkage of the new car market by 60.5 percent and the second-hand market by nearly 10 percent in nine months. This shows that those who remain in the country do not give up changing cars,” emphasizes the interlocutor.
What does the “gray” import carry?
Today, the Russian market is supplied with parallel import models such as:
Avilon lists Range Rover, Land Rover Defender, Range Rover Sport, new Jeep Grand Cherokee, new Volkswagen ID6 and Audi Q5 E-tron electric cars.
“Demand in the market as a whole has now slowed down a bit compared to previous periods, but demand continues for both new and used cars,” says Alexei Starikov, Deputy General Manager for New Car Sales at Avilon AG.
Andrey Olkhovsky, managing director of Avtodom Group of Companies, says that parallel imports work, but still mainly through individuals. It imports Jaguar, Land Rover and other brands. Since the end of September, Avtodom has managed to arrange the supply of certified cars and components through different countries: United Arab Emirates, Korea, Serbia, USA, Mexico, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
“A lot of cars are on the way right now. We buy cars with VAT, this will increase the likelihood of selling through leasing companies,” sums up Olkhovsky.