Experts from the Institute for Automotive Market Research analyzed vehicle registration statistics in Ukraine and identified the most popular models in three bus segments: used import, domestic resale, and new purchase.
Bus market dynamics
During October 2025, Ukrainian carriers purchased 561 buses,including new and used. This is 2.7% more compared to September of this year, but 25.2% less compared to October 2024.
By individual subsegments, the comparative dynamics of bus sales is as follows:
- Domestic resales: +15.4% MM, −32.1% YY
- Used imports: −9.1% MM, −3.6% YY
- New imports: −35.3% MM, 0.0% YY
- Made in Ukraine: −20.0% MM, −5.4% YY
Most of the buses were purchased on the domestic market : 382 units, which amounted to 68.1% of the total.
14.3% of used buses, or 80 units, were brought from abroad.
Also last month, 99 new buses were registered for the first time: 88 of these were manufactured or re-equipped in Ukraine ( 15.7% ), the remaining 11 units (2%) arrived from abroad.
The most popular buses on the domestic market
The domestic market is characterized by stability that can be called “conservative.” The absolute leader remains the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. It is a universal tool for Ukrainian transportation — from irregular tourist trips to city or even intercity routes.
Following it are the time-tested models of the brands Bogdan (Ataman) and BAZ (Etalon). Despite the considerable age of many of them, they remain liquid due to the ease of repair and availability of spare parts.
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Also in the top are mostly converted from Volkswagen Crafter and LT cargo vans, and at the bottom of the ranking you can still find vehicles from previous eras — GAZ and PAZ, which, although disappearing from the roads, are still bought and sold.
The most popular used buses imported from abroad
Imports of used vehicles occupy a small share of the market. Here, the tastes of carriers coincide with the domestic market: the leadership is again for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and its competitor Volkswagen Crafter. They are transported mainly for individual orders or for small businesses.
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The segment of large municipal and tourist buses looks more interesting. Although they are imported in small quantities, the appearance of models such as Mercedes-Benz Citaro, Solaris Urbino and Volvo on the list indicates that individual cities or large private carriers still find the resources to update their rolling stock with high-quality European equipment.
The most popular new buses
In the segment of new buses, imports are practically non-existent — Ukrainian manufacturers dominate here. The sales leaders were Bogdan (Ataman) and ZAZ, and BAZ (Etalon) took third place.
This market structure is explained simply: the main driver of new equipment sales now is government procurement (in particular, the School Bus program) and municipal tenders. Against this background, the appearance of vehicles such as the Ford Transit or the Turkish Temsa on the list looks more like isolated exceptions than the emergence of a certain trend.
“The bus market statistics for October are an example of the industryʼs maximum pragmatism,” says automotive business consultant Ostap Novytskyi, commenting on the situation.
"The segment has shown signs of stabilization, showing a slight increase compared to September. However, if we look globally, then compared to last year, trade volumes have decreased by a quarter. This indicates that carriers are not ready for a large-scale fleet renewal at the moment and prefer to keep what is there or exchange equipment within the country.
Sales of new buses adhere to the "traditions" prescribed in state acts. The lionʼs share of sales are school buses and the usual "minibuses", because they have an advantage in tenders. Whether they would retain priority among carriers and passengers without this framework of choice is a difficult question. Undoubtedly, the price of Ukrainian equipment is more affordable than European top models. But until the requirements for obtaining routes change or affordable lending appears, the used "Sprinter" of the 2010s will continue to remain the main minibus of the country.
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