The Unexpected Consequence of the Ukrainian War: What Happens to Car Sales

The world economy has suffered significantly from the invasion of Ukraine and many areas continue to decline due to sanctions on Russia, but also because of Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

Russia’s car market is drifting due to numerous international sanctions on Putin’s country since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. According to The Moscow Times, only 32,706 cars were sold in Russia last month. Although the figure may not tell you much, it is worth noting that it is 78% lower than the value recorded in the same period in 2021. What is worse is that the trend is more and more anxious. In March, for example, the year-on-year decrease in sales was 60%. In May, it will probably be above the 78 percent mentioned above.

Russia’s car sales are on the verge of extinction

In direct correlation with Vladimir Putin’s gestures in recent months, the Russian car market has been on the rise shortly after the Russian president’s announcement to take troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Less than a month later, many Russians they ended up offering second-hand car apartments in exchange, because it became obvious that not only imports would suffer because of sanctions, but also domestic production.

The most affected plant was the producer Lada, of the Autovaz manufacturer, majority owned by the Renault – Nissan group. There, sales fell by 78%, in the context in which that is the most popular and affordable Russian brand, the Dacia equivalent in Romania. At the moment, due to external pressures, Renault is facing huge pressures to interrupt any collaboration with Russia and there have been rumors about the sale of its stake in Autovaz.

Sales of cars in Russia have not been helped by the cessation of the sale of cars and car components in this country by giants such as Audi, Honda, Jaguar or Porsche.