Market of new passenger cars on rise in Ukraine

MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) - Primary registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine in July increased 20% year-on-year and 24% month-on-month, reaching around 6,400 vehicles, Ukrainian media reported, citing Ukravtoprom as saying on social media.

"This year, more cars were bought only in March," the statement said.

As reported, the market of new passenger cars saw negative trends in June 2024, down 8% year-on-year and down 7% month-on-month to 5,200 cars, Ukravtoprom said.

Japanese Toyota keeps leading with registrations of 1,024 cars in July, down nearly 5% year-on-year, but up 20% month-on-month, it said.

BMW remains the second most popular brand this July, as in June, with a 15.2% increase in sales month-on-month up to 628 cars compared to June-2024. This brand was ranked fifth last July with registrations of 385 cars.

Renault takes third position, up 20.5% month-on-month to 587 cars. It was second in the rating last July with sales of 564 cars.

Additionally, the top five in July included Skoda with registrations of 378 cars against 278 cars year-on-year and 493 vehicles month-on-month and Volkswagen with registrations of 334 cars against 525 and 269 vehicles, respectively.

Renault Duster was the best-selling model in July, as well as in June, with 541 cars.

In total, over 39,200 new passenger cars were registered in Ukraine between January and July, which is up 21% year-on-year.

Experts attribute the reinvigoration on the market of new passenger cars in July primarily to the government's initiative to impose a 15% military levy on buyers of new and used cars (including electric cars) at their first registration in Ukraine, which caused an influx of buyers in car dealerships.

At the same time, they did not observe abnormal hype and "emptying of car showrooms."

"As for the ViDi statistics, the number of contracts for the purchase of cars sees a certain growth. We certainly can not say that there is some abnormal hype and that Ukrainians have bought out all the cars and car dealerships are empty," ViDi Group co-owner Alexander Dzhurinsky wrote on the social media earlier.

In turn, experts said that the imposition of a 15% military levy could result in a collapse of car sales and in the loss of entire chains of official car dealers.

As reported, on July 18, the Rada registered government bills on amendments to the 2024 state budget in relation to the financial provision of the security and defense sector and amendments to the Tax Code and other laws on the peculiarities of taxation during martial law. The latter implies, in particular, the collection of a 15% military levy from buyers of cars at their first registration.

The primary registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine rose 60.6% in 2023 year-on-year up to nearly 61,000.