Motor named 10 Chinese brands whose cars will be difficult to sell

The Kaiyi car company has officially notified Russians of its withdrawal from the market. Before this, the brands Skywell, Hawtai, Brilliance and many others quietly left Russia. Motor gave examples of brands with minimal sales, whose owners risk staying with them for a long time – the prospects for the supply of spare parts are already causing concern.

The fact that Kaiyi said goodbye to the Russians and transferred warranty obligations for maintenance and repairs to Votour Motor Rus (the legal entity representing the Jetour brand) was reported by the Auto Mail project with reference to an official representative of Kaiyi.

The brand’s representative office stopped fulfilling its obligations to further support the sold cars even before the dealers managed to sell all the assembled cars. According to the official Kaiyi website, 38 cars remain in stock throughout Russia. The brand’s line consisted of four models: the E5 sedan and the X3, X3 Pro and X7 Kunlun crossovers. In the spring of 2025, Kaiyi distributors introduced discounts from 200 to 600 thousand rubles.

Kaiyi X3 Pro
Kaiyi

Industry experts predict: against the background of a gradual increase in recycling collection (which is compensated by the state only in exchange for production within the country) and tightening working conditions in the Russian Federation, no more than 10 automobile brands will be able to continue operating against the current 60. Candidates for relegation are brands that sell less than 5-7 thousand cars per year.

President of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD) Alexey Podshchekoldin said at the annual ROAD Convention in Moscow that with the current market size, the break-even threshold for the dealer business in terms of sales volume is provided by only 10 brands.

According to the forecasts of Yuri Blinov, marketing director of the Avilon automobile group, in 2026-2027 the number of actually active auto brands in Russia may decrease by 30-50%. Motor magazine wrote in detail about the situation on the market.

Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max
Chery

Chery

Chery is a prime example of how a brand goes away, leaving behind a huge customer base. According to the Autostat agency, the import of new Chery cars to Russia has collapsed 100 times: in January-February 2026, only 41 cars were imported compared to 4.2 thousand for the same period in 2025.

Sales of the Chery brand itself (excluding sub-brands) in the first quarter of 2026 amounted to only 3,265 cars – a drop of 87% compared to last year. The brand’s office is being reduced, dealer contracts are being revised. Experts interviewed by Motor magazine state: the Chery brand is curtailing its presence in Russia, giving way to the Tenet project.

Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max
Chery

At the same time, Omoda, Jaecoo, Exeed, Jetour, Exlantix remain on the market, which are also being transferred under other names. Formally, these are other legal entities, other dealer agreements and other warranty obligations. The fact that Chery owns these brands does not help the owner of a car with a Chery nameplate. Spare parts, service, warranty – all this is tied to a specific brand.

Jetta

Formally, the Jetta brand (a joint venture between Volkswagen and FAW) did not announce its departure from Russia, but in fact the brand has moved into the shadow sector: the official website has not been working since September 2025, the call center has been disabled, and dealers only have cars produced in 2023 in stock. There are no deliveries of new cars.

Jetta VS7
Jetta

At the same time, the prices are sky-high: for the VA3 sedan they ask for 2.71 million rubles, with an equivalent Chinese price of about 700 thousand rubles. Dealers are not interested in promoting the brand, and owners risk being left without spare parts and service. In addition to the sedan, Jetta offered the VS5 and VS7 crossovers in Russia.

S.W.M.

Like Kaiyi, SWM crossovers were assembled at Avtotor in Kaliningrad, and the history of the brand’s presence in Russia is winding down. Sales of cars of this brand at the end of two months of 2026 fell by 91% compared to the same period last year and amounted to only 101 cars.

SWM G01
S.W.M.

SWM is an Italian motorcycle brand with a 50-year history, revived by the Chinese company Shineray. The brand came to Russia in 2024 with the G01, G01F and G05 Pro crossovers.

Lebanon

The brand has been represented in Russia since 2023. The “cars in stock” section of the official website still displays several cars from this year. In 2025, the brand’s best-selling sedan was the S6 Pro sedan, which sold more than 1.5 thousand cars. In 2026, sales of this model became single. In addition, the automaker canceled discounts in the fall of 2025, and prices have increased since the beginning of 2026.

Lebanon S6 Pro
Lebanon

Soueast

The production of Soueast cars was launched at Avtotor in Kaliningrad, and sales are handled by Jetour dealers. Sales of cars of this brand are rare. In January-February, not a single car manufactured in 2026 was sold, Sergei Tselikov, general director of the analytical agency Autostat, reported on the Telegram channel. Moreover, in the first two months, only 354 cars of this brand were sold in Russia – 4.5 times less than in the same period last year (probably the remains of 2025). Of the two Soueast models (S07 and S09), demand for the more expensive S09 increased sharply in 2026 – it took up 80% of the brand’s sales.

Oting

The Oting brand offers in Russia the Paladin SUV and the Palasso hardtop pickup truck, which are produced in China by a joint venture between Dongfeng and Nissan and are based on units of Japanese SUVs. This brand decided not to localize its products in Russia. Dealer networks are not interested in promoting a brand that brings in several dozen sales per month, unlike market leaders, so there is an outflow in the distribution network.

Oting Palasso
Oting Soueast S07
Soueast

MG

The British-Chinese brand MG (now owned by the SAIC concern) sold only two cars in Russia in January 2026. On the official website of the brand, 68 cars are listed in stock. MG’s position is complicated by the lack of local production. However, it is on MG platforms and units that a new line of Moskvich crossovers – M70 and M90 – was released.

Forthing

Forthing specializes mainly in minivans. Practice has shown that Russian buyers are not ready to switch en masse to “mobile homes” from a second-tier Chinese manufacturer. For all of 2025, 159 Forthing cars were sold – a drop of 68% compared to 2024.

MG6
MG Forthing S07
Forthing VGV U75 Plus
VGV

In October 2025, the brand sold only seven cars in Russia: six Yacht minivans and one T5 Evo crossover. Such low sales entail losses in maintaining the dealer network.

VGV

The VGV brand is also notable for its low performance: in the first two months of 2026, dealers sold only 15 cars. The U70 Pro and U75 Plus crossovers for the Russian market are assembled at the Belarusian Unison plant using the large-knot method. The brand entered the Russian market in September 2024. Both models are front-wheel drive family crossovers, adapted for use in Russia with increased ground clearance, enhanced sound insulation, anti-corrosion treatment of the bottom and an extended “winter” package.