Ukravtoprom estimates growth of demand for new cars in Jan 2024 at 47%, Auto-Consulting at 37%

MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - The registration of new cars in Ukraine rose 47% to nearly 4,400 in January 2024 year-on-year, Ukrainian media outlets said, citing information circulated by the Ukravtoprom association on social media.

"Consumer demand for new cars is 24% behind the pre-crisis levels seen in January 2021, and the volume of sales on the market in January was almost the same as in 2017," Ukravtoprom said.

As a year earlier, Toyota remained on top of the list with 764 vehicles registered, up 31%. Renault was in second place with a 2.6-fold increase in sales to 504 cars, climbing four places in January 2024.

Volkswagen was third with 476 cars, up 133%, Skoda, which was second in January 2023, was in fourth place in January 2024 with 312 cars, up 33%, and Nissan ranked fifth, after seeing a 4.6-fold rise in sales and moving up from its 15th position in January 2023.

The January 2024 top ten also included Hyundai with 177 cars registered (+11), Suzuki with 160 (-13%), Peugeot with 159 (a 7.7-fold increase as compared to its 24th position in January 2023), Lexus with 151 (+66%), and Mazda with 149 (+54%).

As in January 2023, the Renault Duster compact CUV was the bestseller of January 2024 with 479 initial registrations.

According to Ukravtoprom data, demand for new cars dropped 44% to around 3,000 in January 2023 year-on-year. The top five in January 2023 consisted of Renault, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen.

Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian media, the Auto-Consulting information analysis group said on its website on Thursday that more than 4,800 new cars were sold Ukraine in January 2024, which is 37% more than in January 2023.

"Looking at the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian auto market is recovering following the 2017 trend, and it promises good results," experts said, adding that the sales of half of operators from the top ten grew more than the rest of the market, significantly impacting the brands' positions.

According to Auto-Consulting data, the leader is Toyota with a 17.72% market share, while Volkswagen is in second place with 12.24% of the market, largely due to the grey import of electric vehicles from China.

Renault is in third place (sixth a year earlier), as its dealers have managed to secure a 2.4-fold increase in sales to 523 cars, the group said. Skoda is in the fourth position.

"Honda returned to the leading group of brands in January, and also not without the help of grey dealers who imported electric vehicles from the Chinese market. BYD stood out for the first time, and now also has claims to a share of the Ukrainian market. BYD sales grew by six times over the year," Auto-Consulting said.

According to the statistics, the growth (by 183 cars) allowed BYD to climb to the seventh position from the 23rd in January 2023.

Peugeot returned to the top ten in January 2024 by securing a 6-fold increase in sales, the analysts said.

Since the end of 2023, there has been a tendency toward a reduction of premium brands' share of the Ukrainian market - no premium brands made it to the January 2024 top ten, they said.

"Moreover, we also saw negative figures in some results, something their rivals immediately took advantage of. For instance, Audi dealers boosted sales and topped the premium pool of producers," they said.

In addition, the market share of electric vehicles rose to a new all-time high of 23.8% in January 2024, though the bulk of them was sold by grey dealers.

"Such rapid growth of electric car sales was the result of several laws aimed at encouraging the use of electric cars, and the Ukrainian market is now implementing these changes," Auto-Consulting said.

As reported earlier, citing Ukravtoprom data, the initial registration of new cars in Ukraine increased 60.6% to nearly 61,000 in 2023 year-on-year. Auto-Consulting estimated the growth at 62.4% to over 65,000.