China has significantly increased car exports to Russia in the first eight months of 2026. In the period from January to August, over 688,000 cars were exported to the Russian market. This is almost double the amount compared to the same period last year. In value terms, this is 9.08 billion USD or 2.2 times more on an annual basis.
The data shows a continued expansion of the presence of Chinese automakers in the Russian market. After the withdrawal or curtailment of the activities of a number of Western brands after the start of the war in Ukraine, Chinese companies gradually took a significant part of the vacated market share.
Russia has become one of the important foreign markets for the Chinese automobile industry, which in recent years has increased its exports of both internal combustion engine cars and electric and hybrid models.
The data referred to refer to customs exports from China and do not necessarily mean that all imported cars were sold to end customers in Russia during the same period.