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The market for new cars set a record. What did Ukrainians buy?

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In 2021, Ukrainian new car dealers sold 107.8 thousand new cars. For the first time since 2014, the number of new cars purchased by Ukrainians in a year has crossed the 100,000 mark. Most of them — 97.6 thousand — were brought from abroad. At the same time, European car dealers are suffering from a shortage of new cars. Factories do not have time to produce the required number of machines due to lack of components. Experts from the Automotive Market Research Institute analyzed why the Ukrainian market has shown growth, despite the global crisis in the automotive industry, and identified the most popular imported cars in the past year.

Dynamics of imports of used cars

Compared to 2020, imports of new cars increased by 19.3%. The largest sales in 2021 were recorded in April, July and December. The worst results were in January. Thus, the impact of the global shortage of new cars on the Ukrainian market was minimal.

Dynamics of imports of new cars from abroad during 2021

The Ukrainian car market has not felt the negative impact of the shortage of new cars due to its small size, said Stanislav Buchatsky, head of the Automotive Market Research Institute. For example, in the United States in 2021 sold 15 million new cars, in Germany — 2.6 million. "What is a record for Ukraine today is a percentage of the world market. Dealers managed to meet demand primarily because it was small. Unfortunately, the purchasing power of Ukrainians is still too low for the mass purchase of new cars."

Who bought new cars

In 2021, 31.6% of new imported cars (30.8 thousand) were purchased by legal entities — private and public organizations. The remaining 68.4% were bought by individuals. Compared to 2020, the share of legal entities in the sales structure increased slightly — from 29.6%.

Structure of sales of new cars by individuals and legal entities during 2021

Most new cars were sold to legal entities in December — about 41.1% of the total.

The most popular models of imported cars with mileage

When buying a new car in 2021, Ukrainians most often chose the Toyota brand — in 15% of cases. In second place was Renault (14.1%), and in third place — Kia (8.2%). This picture is radically different from the rating of imported used cars and used cars in the domestic market, where in both cases the leader was Volkswagen, and the shares of other brands are distributed in completely different proportions.

The share of brands in the market of new cars imported from abroad during 2021

The best-selling car of 2021 was the KIA Sportage (almost 7,000 sales). The second place was taken by Toyota RAV-4 (about 6 thousand cars sold), and the third — Renault Duster (more than 5 thousand cars). Thus, the top three among the new cars were crossovers.

In addition, in the list of 10 most popular models as many as 7 places are occupied by crossovers and one — SUV. This is why the Ukrainian top is radically different from the European one. This love for crossovers in Ukraine can be explained by their practicality, versatility and affordability — because they are sold in most cases at the price of ordinary cars.

The most popular used cars imported from abroad in 2021
  1. KIA Sportage — 6 954
  2. Toyota RAV-4 — 5,992
  3. Renault Duster * — 5 056
  4. Renault Sandero * — 3 325
  5. Toyota Land Cruiser Prado — 2,624
  6. Nissan Qashqai — 2,261
  7. Mitsubishi Outlander — 2,246
  8. Toyota Camry — 2 152
  9. Nissan X-Trail — 2,069
  10. Chery Tiggo 4 — 1 768
  11. Mazda CX-5 — 1,752
  12. Volkswagen Touareg — 1,741
  13. Suzuki SX-4 — 1,692
  14. Peugeot 301 — 1,586
  15. Suzuki Vitara — 1 548
  16. Skoda Octavia — 1 354
  17. Ford Kuga — 1 334
  18. Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class — 1,200
  19. Chery Tiggo 2 — 1 133
  20. Toyota Corolla — 1 067
  21. Volkswagen Tiguan — 972
  22. Toyota Highlander — 907
  23. Renault Dokker * — 863
  24. Toyota Land Cruiser — 859
  25. BMW X5 — 834
  26. Hyundai i30 — 795
  27. Lexus RX-791
  28. Peugeot 2008 — 782
  29. Peugeot 3008 — 739
  30. Audi Q8 — 736

If the problem of shortage of new cars in Europe is not solved in 2022, the list of the most popular cars may change significantly, experts from the Automotive Market Research Institute are convinced. In the absence of popular models available in car dealerships or an increase in their waiting time for the order, buyers will choose what will be physically available for purchase. For example, the share of cars made in China may increase.

It is important to use analytics and forecasting to keep abreast of change and earn more in the car business. The Automotive Market Research Institute can help with this. Write to us at [email protected] !

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