Almost twice in a year: sales of Chinese cars are growing in Ukraine

Regarding cars from China, there are still certain stereotypes about their allegedly inadequate quality and low reliability. However, market indicators suggest otherwise: interest in machines Made in China is steadily growing. How many and what kind of Chinese cars do Ukrainians buy? The answer was found by the experts of the Institute of Car Market Research on the basis of verified data.

How many cars are brought from China?

In February of this year, the Ukrainian fleet was replenished with 1,523 cars with Chinese VIN, which was 5.8% more than in January 2024, and almost twice as much as in February 2022. This indicator turned out to be the largest for the Ukrainian car market. At the same time, interest in such machines — both new and used — is growing.

In total, in 2023, Ukrainians registered 12,400 cars manufactured in China for the first time. Most of them ( 65.2% ) were new, the remaining 34.8% were used. At the same time, almost all cars were passenger cars : 97.5% of the total number (6.9 thousand). There were only 301 trucks. (2.4%), and 9 buses.

The absolute majority of cars from China turned out to be electric : 80.2% (10 thousand), and in January 2024 their share reached a record: more than 90%.

What are the most popular new cars made in China?

The absolute leader in sales of new cars from China in 2023 was the Volkswagen ID.4 electric crossover — as many as 2,614 units were purchased. Interestingly, these cars are produced in Foshan (FAW-Volkswagen plant, called ID.4 Crozz) and Antin (SAIC Volkswagen plant, called ID.4 X) for the domestic market, not for export. However, since the official Volkswagen dealer has not arranged the supply of the European version of this model to Ukraine, the demand is met by independent dealers who managed to organize the purchase and delivery of popular electric crossovers.

In second place was the Chinese Honda M-NV (561 units), which is manufactured at the Dongfeng Honda plant under the name Ciimo M-NV. The third place was taken by another electric Volkswawgen — ID.6 (490 units), which is manufactured for the Chinese market at the FAW-Volkswagen plant (under the ID.6 Crozz brand) and at SAIC-Volkswagen (ID.6 X model).

In general, the top three cars manufactured in China and first registered in Ukraine during 2023 were electric cars manufactured for the domestic market and imported to Ukraine by independent dealers. Only in 4th place was the model that is officially supplied to Ukraine: Chery Tiggo 4 (487 units).

Rounding out the top five is another Chery — Tiggo 2 (343 units), which is officially delivered to Ukraine.

1. Volkswagen ID.4 — 2614 pcs.
2. Honda M-NV — 561 pcs.
3. Volkswagen ID.6 — 490 pcs.
4. Chery Tiggo 4 — 487 pcs.
5. Chery Tiggo 2 — 343 pcs.
6. Honda e:NS1 — 322 pcs.
7. Toyota bZ4X — 302 pcs.
8. MG HS — 262 pcs.
9. BYD Song Plus — 178 pcs.
10. Honda e:NP1 — 168 pcs.
11. Chery Jetour X70 — 166 pcs.
12. Haval H6 — 160 pcs.
13. MG 4 — 151 pcs.
14. Geely Atlas Pro — 116 pcs.
15. Volkswagen ID.3 — 115 pcs.
16. Chery Tiggo 7 — 111 pcs.
17. BYD Yuan Plus — 107 pcs.
18. MG ZS — 98 pcs.
19. Zeekr 001 — 79 pcs.
20. MG 5 — 73 pcs.

What Chinese cars with mileage are brought?

The average age of used Chinese cars, which were first registered in Ukraine during 2023, was 1.6 years. At the same time, according to the results of 2022, it was 1.9 years, and in 2021 — 3.9 years. That is, most Ukrainians are interested in, if not new, then almost new Chinese cars, up to 2 years old.

Volkswagen ID.4 was also the most popular among used cars from China. More than 1.6 thousand of them were brought in a year.

Second place, as in the list of new Chinese cars, was taken by Honda M-NV (474 units). Volkswawgen ID.6 (296 units) took third place, and Honda e:NS1 (187 units), which is manufactured at the joint Japanese-Chinese factory Dongfeng Honda, took fourth place.

Rounding out the top five is the Toyota bZ4X (184 units), which is manufactured at the GAC Toyota and FAW Toyota plants.

1. Volkswagen ID.4 — 1622 pcs.
2. Honda M-NV — 474 pcs.
3. Volkswagen ID.6 — 296 pcs.
4. Honda e:NS1 — 187 pcs.
5. Toyota bZ4X — 184 pcs.
6. Tesla Model Y — 124 pcs.
7. Buick Envision — 118 pcs.
8. BYD Song Plus — 103 pcs.
9. Tesla Model 3 — 95 pcs.
10. Geely Emgrand — 92 pcs.
11. Honda e:NP1 — 79 pcs.
12. Nissan Ariya — 75 pcs.
13. Weltmeister EX5 — 65 pcs.
14. Zeekr 001 — 49 pcs.
15. Polestar 2 — 49 pcs.
16. Volkswagen ID.3 — 45 pcs.
17. Audi Q4 — 43 pcs.
18. BYD Tang — 41 pcs.
19. Honda Fit/Jazz — 38 pcs.
20. Volvo XC60 — 29 pcs.

Why are cars from China gaining popularity in Ukraine?

A number of factors that began a few years ago, namely the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a decrease in the volume of car production in the world, followed by the so-called "semiconductor crisis" (lack of high-tech electronic components), after which (already locally for Ukraine) the beginning of a large-scale the invasion of the Russian Federation and the blocking of our seaports, as well as the reluctance of some foreign partners to take risks by supplying new cars to a country in the hot phase of the war, eventually led to a shortage of new cars at some local official dealers.

At the same time, the need of Ukrainian buyers for these cars has not decreased: firstly, there is a small, but still stable market volume of new passenger cars, at the level of about 5,000 units. per month, and it would be higher if it were not for the mentioned deficit. Secondly, the demand for electric cars is constantly growing, and not only as "vehicles with battery traction", but for high-tech ones with a set of the latest options, various assistants for the driver, multimedia systems, etc.

Today, many Chinese (local founders, or in cooperation with well-known global concerns) car factories are making such an offer. At the same time, many models are offered at quite reasonable prices, although not extremely low, but quite competitive. If you compare these prices for similar models for the European and Chinese markets, you can often get a difference of 1.5...2 times, which automatically gives a decision from which market it is more profitable to import.

To meet the demand for this segment of cars , independent dealers who were able to show flexibility, quick response to customer requests, and also managed to supply this product "on a turnkey basis" at reasonable prices. And despite the fact that cars from multi-brand dealers now have certain disadvantages, such as the lack of an official warranty, sometimes the need to adapt software or charging ports, statistics show that buyers are ready to accept such conditions. Especially since the official half-empty car dealerships managed to show only folders with official agreements and publish a disclaimer on their websites that they are "out of the game", that is, they are not going to support the warranty on cars relocated from China, thereby declaring their rejection of another part of their business — car service, which, after all, was often performed at extremely inflated rates anyway.

What will eventually give an additional impetus to the development of independent multi-brand service stations, often specialized in electric cars, as is already happening — practically every regional center has service stations for electric cars, sometimes even just one brand. Later, the corporatization of independent importers with the same car service enterprises will allow to provide a guarantee for new cars from China, while maintaining democratic prices for both cars and their maintenance. What will make these cars even more attractive to Ukrainian buyers and will contribute to the growth of trade volumes in this sector of the market.

Subscribe to the Telegram channel of the Auto Market Research Institute to be the first to receive information without advertising or spam.