Motor has compiled a list of the main auto events of 2025

In 2025, many events occurred that affected the lives of Russian motorists. From tougher fines and increased recycling fees to the official start of sales of hybrid crossovers from the Chinese brand Lixiang and the long-awaited launch of production of the completely new Lada.

## Foreign Car of the Year: Belgee

In 2025, Belgee periodically became the leader of the Russian market among foreign cars. Let us remind you that the S50 sedan, as well as the X50 and X70 crossovers (all three models are produced by the Belarusian Belgi plant) are now available to buyers.

Thus, in November, as much as 6.5% was accounted for by the Belarusian-Chinese brand, and a year earlier the brand had a coverage of only 2.6% of the market. In the last month of autumn, the combination of Geely (9672 units) plus Belgee (8328 units) produced 18 thousand cars, which corresponds to Haval sales.

AvtoVAZ

## Premiere of the year: Lada Iskra

On April 19, the production of the new Lada Iskra car started in Tolyatti. It is based on the CMF platform, which was acquired by the Lada brand from the range of the Renault-Nissan alliance. But European components (for obvious reasons) had to be replaced with others.

The car received 1.6 liter naturally aspirated engines, which will produce 90 and 106 hp. The older unit will be paired with a six-speed manual transmission and a V-belt variator. The length of the sedan is 4333, width is 1777, height is 1517 mm, and the wheelbase dimension is 2603.

Ivana Cajina/Unsplash

## Event of the year: increasing recycling collection

For a long time, Russian authorities allowed Russians to import cars for personal use by paying a preferential recycling tax rate of 3,400 rubles for a new car. But on December 1, the tariffs became completely different, and the benefits remained only for equipment whose power is less than 160 hp.

The selection of the most popular imported cars affected by the reform included not only premium models. The bestseller is the Geely Xingue L, that is, Monjaro, which, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will only be profitable to buy through “officials.”

Tenet

## Restart of the year: AGR Automobile Plant

The Russian manufacturer AGR, known for assembling Solaris cars, began producing cars under the specially created Tenet brand. This company, among other things, owns the former Volkswagen plant near Kaluga, where the new brand has just settled.

The models were transferred to the Russian automaker by the Chinese concern Chery, so the Tenet T4 is a renamed Chery Tiggo T4. True, if the “source” offered only front-wheel drive, the newcomer is also ready to provide the buyer with an all-wheel drive transmission.

Lixiang

## Surprise of the year: Lixiang sales start

Since the spring of 2022, the wealthy Russian public has tried large hybrid crossovers from the hitherto unknown Lixiang brand. For gray dealers selling such cars, 2024 turned out to be a particularly successful year, when more than 23 thousand cars were sold.

In 2025, the Chinese state-owned company Sinomach decided to establish official supplies. The cars have been certified, so official sales will begin soon: with Russification of the media system, a full warranty and other pleasant bonuses.