Warehouses in Russia are overflowing with Chinese cars, and here’s why

Kommersant writes about hundreds of thousands of unsold cars that have accumulated in the warehouses of dealers and distributors – according to experts, stocks have reached 200-250 thousand cars, which will last until mid-spring. And this is even more than the oversupply that existed at the end of last year, when the reserves amounted to more than 170 thousand cars. There may be several reasons for overstocking.

Director of Autostat Sergei Udalov notes that a large number of cars were brought from China to Russia before the indexation of the recycling fee, which occurred on October 1, 2024. However, despite record sales volumes in September and October, dealers did not sell out the entire stock, and new cars continued to arrive in November and December – months when consumer activity decreased.

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The editor-in-chief of the Za Rulem magazine, Maxim Kadakov, suggested that the reason for the overstocking was that Chinese companies “timely underestimated the main factor in reducing demand – the increase in the Central Bank rate.” And then the large volume of supplies, given the complexity of logistics, “could no longer be stopped at the snap of a finger.”

Another automotive expert, Oleg Moseev, estimates the stocks of Chinese brands at the end of the year even higher – at 360 thousand units, and this does not take into account parallel imports. “The oversupply was caused by the initially inflated plans of Chinese automakers for supplies to the Russian market,” he believes. “Plus, the cars were delivered with a reserve before the increase in the recycling fee and did not predict the fall of the market starting in November.”

Dealers, for their part, confirm that unsold cars accumulated in warehouses at the end of the year. For example, in Avilon the volume of waste is estimated at 350 thousand cars. Rolf notes that with current sales volumes, the Chinese reserves will last for about two months, and Autostat believes that at least until spring, or even more. Kadakov assumes that cars will be sold from warehouses until May.

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