The key facts

  • October sales — 132.9 thousand cars: minus 19.8% versus October 2025, plus 8% versus September
  • The annual decline is explained by an anomalously high October 2025 amid expectations of a recycling fee increase
  • From January to October, 1.1 million cars were sold (+3.7%); the forecast for the year is 1.35 million (+2%)

October result: a yearly record amid an annual decline

In October 2026, 132.9 thousand new passenger cars were sold in Russia — 19.8% fewer than in October last year. This was reported by Sergey Tselikov, director of the Autostat agency, whose data is cited by Gazeta.Ru. At the same time, sales grew compared to September: Gazeta.Ru gives a figure of 8%, while Life.ru, citing Autostat — 8.2%. According to Life.ru, this is the best monthly result since the beginning of 2026.

Why the market declined year-on-year

Tselikov explains the uneven dynamics by two factors: an anomalously high October 2025 and the transition of several Chinese brands to Russian assembly with name changes. Life.ru adds context: in October 2025 sales reached 165.7 thousand cars, as buyers rushed to purchase vehicles ahead of an expected increase in the recycling fee. The current market failed to repeat that result, despite the 2026 record.

Who leads: brands and models

Lada remained the market leader — 29.7 thousand cars sold, 10.7% fewer than a year earlier. It is followed by Haval (16.9 thousand, minus 35.4%), Tenet (15.3 thousand, plus 77.1%), Geely (7.9 thousand), Changan (7.7 thousand), Belgee (6.3 thousand), Toyota (4 thousand), Jetour (3.8 thousand), Jeland (3 thousand) and Mazda (2.7 thousand). Half of the ten leaders ended October with a decline: Geely (minus 44.6%) and Belgee (minus 41.2%) fell the most, while Mazda showed the strongest growth — sales increased 2.5-fold.

Models and dynamics over ten months

The most popular model was again the Lada Granta — about 11.6 thousand sales, followed by the Haval Jolion (7.1 thousand) and the Tenet T7 (6.3 thousand). The Lada Iskra showed a notable increase — 3.56 thousand cars, 5.6 times its September result, while Haval M6 sales more than halved to 2.96 thousand. According to Life.ru, Volga outsold Moskvich in sales for the first time. Cumulatively, 1.1 million cars were sold from January to October — 3.7% more than a year earlier. Tselikov's forecast for the full year is 1.35 million units (+2%). It was previously reported that the Russian car market surpassed the one-million mark, and that sales of new vehicles produced in Russia over ten months, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, grew by 19.2% — to more than 784 thousand domestically assembled cars, whose share reached 64.1%.