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Experts from Otkritie Avto (Otkritie Bank's auto business unit, part of VTB Group) and Avtomarketolog Company analyzed the volume of registrations of cars imported into Russia through parallel import channels. In August, 15,026[*1] such cars were registered[*2], only 3% higher than the July registrations. The share of parallel imports decreased to 13% by the end of August (14% by the end of July). In total, from the beginning of the year to August inclusive, 67,800 vehicles imported under the parallel import scheme were registered in the Russian car market, or 10% of the total volume of cars sold in the country during this period (666,025 vehicles, including official sales and unofficial imports). In 2023, cars of Japanese (33%), Korean (28%) and German brands (23%) were imported most often through an alternative channel.

Despite the fact that the monthly share of parallel imports has been kept in the range of 13-15% of the total volume of monthly cars sold since the beginning of the year, in August for the first time its decline was observed to the indicators of January-April. In addition, in August, there was a slowdown in the growth dynamics of registrations of "gray" vehicles in absolute terms: if in June and July 2023, the monthly increase in cars sold on parallel imports was 15% and 13%, respectively, then in August sales of such cars increased by only 3%.

"In the last month of summer, the market began to adapt to the changed conditions of the adjusted mechanism of payment of scrap collection. This, in turn, affected the volume of vehicles imported through parallel import. It is expected that such adaptation will continue in September, and therefore the results for the first month of autumn will show a further slowdown in the growth of the total volume of registrations of cars imported through a parallel channel," said Oleg Moseev, General Director of Automarketologist LLC.

Toyota retained the leadership in the structure of August registrations among brands (2,498 vehicles; +6% compared to July 2023). The second and third positions were taken by Kia and Hyundai, which demonstrated a decrease in sales figures to 2113 and 1898 vehicles during the reporting period (-10% and -15%, respectively). BMW again took the fourth place (up to 976 vehicles; +4%), and Mercedes-Benz (725 vehicles; +11%) took the fifth place, displacing the Mitsubishi brand from this position (720 vehicles; -6%).

The Kia Sportage crossover retained the primacy among models in the last month of summer, although the number of registrations for it decreased from July to August from 904 to 805 vehicles (-11%). The second was the Toyota Camry sedan (741 vehicles, +32%), and the Hyundai Tucson crossover (559 vehicles, -28%) moved to third place. The August top 5 was closed by Hyundai Santa Fe SUV (492 vehicles; -21%) and Toyota RAV4 crossover (400 vehicles; -1%).

As before, most of the places in the top 5 are occupied by SUV class cars. It should be noted that the share of such cars in the volume of all registrations in August accounted for 10,046 units, or 67%. For cars of segments D and C in the structure of registrations — 1294 (9%) and 1,015 units. (7%) respectively.

The share of cars imported by private individuals decreased in August from 83% to 78%, while the share of cars imported by legal entities increased by a third (+32%).

As in previous months, in August, most of the parallel imports fell on vehicles with gasoline and diesel engines: 9,669 and 2,794 cars, respectively (the share is 64% and 18.6%). Electric vehicles in the structure of the parallel segment occupied 6% or 931 units in August, 23% higher than in July (755 vehicles).

The Japanese hold the lead

In 2023, cars of Japanese (22,640 vehicles or 33%), Korean (18,977 vehicles or 28%) and German brands (15,655 units or 23%) were most often imported into Russia as part of parallel imports. It is noteworthy that the volume of registrations of cars from Japan imported to Russia under the parallel import scheme grew steadily from month to month, increasing by more than 2 times, from 2,211 units in January to 5,163 in August 2023.

The final rating for the first eight months of 2023 among the brands coincided with the leaders in August. In the top five are Toyota (10,687 units), Hyundai (9,342 vehicles), Kia (8,974 vehicles), BMW (5,283 vehicles) and Mercedes-Benz (4,313 vehicles). The Hyundai Tucson crossover (2,803 vehicles) topped the model rating for January-August 2023. It is followed by another "Korean" Hyundai Santa Fe with a result of 2,247 registered cars and a Kia Sportage crossover (2,206 vehicles), as well as two Toyota models — a Toyota Camry sedan (1,893 vehicles) and a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV (1,789 vehicles).

"The growth of imports and the leadership of Japanese brands imported to Russia through alternative supply channels are quite understandable. On August 9, a ban on the import into our country of new and used vehicles from Japan with an internal combustion engine of more than 1.9 liters, as well as electric vehicles and hybrids, came into force. At the same time, taking into account last year's sanctions and the withdrawal of Japanese automakers, new cars from the land of the rising sun come to us mainly through parallel import channels, through third countries. And if their sales on the secondary market, sold primarily through the Far East, are already showing a drop against the background of new import rules, then sanctions cannot affect parallel imports, having the opposite effect," said Marina Dembitskaya, head of Otkritie Avto.

In the structure of parallel imports of passenger cars since the beginning of the year, 93% are passenger cars, 5% are pickups and 3% are passenger commercial vehicles. Since the beginning of the year, 17% of cars have been imported by companies and 83% by individuals.

*1: Cars with Kazakh vins are taken into account in the registrations.

*2: Passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, pickups.

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/press_releases/2023/09/21/otkritie-avto-tempi-rosta-parallelnogo-importa-v-avguste-zamedlilis?utm_campaign=newspaper_25_9_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti