January 2026 was a "great recalculation" for the new car market. After the December hype, when buyers tried to get ahead of the VAT refund on electric cars, the market naturally cooled down in monthly terms, but showed healthy optimism compared to last year.
The new car market in January is always a story of seasonal lull, exacerbated this year by changes in tax rules.
- Total: 4,789 new passenger cars registered.
- Origin: The lionʼs share is imported. Ukrainian production (large-scale assembly) provided only 119 units.
- MM dynamics (month-on-month): New car imports fell by 57.8% compared to the record December. This is a classic effect of "empty warehouses" and pent-up demand.
- YY dynamics (year-on-year): Despite the January hibernation, we see an increase of 11.6% compared to January 2025. This indicates that the overall trend for fleet renewal remains positive.
An interesting shift in power has been recorded in the brand rankings. In January, Toyota reminded us who is the boss. The gap from BYD is so significant that it would not even occur to us now that the Chinese brand could have become number one last year. Weʼll see what happens next, because China has imposed restrictions on the export of cars intended for the local market.
Renault and Skoda round out the top four, targeting corporate fleets and European pragmatists. BMW, at eighth place, shows that the premium segment felt quite confident in January.
In the model competition, we saw a real “photo finish”. Toyota RAV4 (313 units) and Renault Duster (312 units) were divided into only one body! These are the two main poles of the Ukrainian market: a prestigious crossover versus an “honest” SUV. Let us remind you (more about the methodology at the end of the article) that we do not include departmental registrations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies and similar structures here.
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado closed the top three, which once again confirms the love of Ukrainians for large and reliable formats. Three new generation models broke into the top 10 at once: BYD Leopard 3 (a brutal electric crossover), BYD Sea Lion 06 and Volkswagen ID. Unyx. The latter is the same “golden” Volkswagen of the Chinese assembly with a design in the style of Cupra, which has become a new favorite among technology lovers.
Luxury segment: Even in cold January, there was room for beauty. One Bentley and one Maserati were officially registered, and a solid 40 Porsches.
Among new passenger cars that were registered as manufactured in Ukraine (quantitatively included in the overall rating), the leader last year was the Skoda Karoq crossover (59 units), which is produced at the Transcarpathian Eurocar plant.
- We will publish a picture of fuel priorities in the new passenger car segment soon, with infographics and comments. And in order not to miss the release of this review, subscribe to the Telegram channel of the Institute for Automotive Market Research to receive information first, without advertising and spam.
