Fairy tales of our time: why Chinese cars are becoming cheaper in Russia
- December 11, 2023
- 0
Several online publications immediately noted a strange fact: at the end of the year, cars of Chinese brands began to become cheaper. And not for just a few
Several online publications immediately noted a strange fact: at the end of the year, cars of Chinese brands began to become cheaper. And not for just a few cents, but for hundreds of thousands of our full-fledged, uncompromising rubles. The AvtoVzglyad portal thought about how this financial-time paradox threatens all Russian drivers.
It is difficult to surprise experienced car experts with anything, even if something incomprehensible happens, such as the fact that prices for Chinese cars have suddenly fallen. Chery led the way. The crossover Tiggo 8 Pro fell in price by as much as 350 thousand rubles, or 6.7%. For a pair of Tiggo 7 Pro Max configurations, the price dropped by 110 thousand, Arrizo 8 knocked 150 thousand to customers.
A bad example is contagious, and Haval succumbed to it and rewrote the Jolion price tag by 100,000. Changan rushed to save fans of the brand from 30 to 100 thousand, depending on the equipment. But everyone was outdone by JAC, which gave drivers who looked at the JS6 a truly royal gift: 499 thousand rubles. Well, and so on – after all, we are not Quattroruote to overload the reader’s brain with boring price lists. The trend is already clear.
Every question – every answer
The General Director of the Avtodom holding, Andrei Olkhovsky, commented to Gazeta.ru on this trick of our savior friends from the Middle Kingdom: “If the trend of increasing car imports from China continues, by 2024 there could be an oversupply of Chinese are brands. and the competition between them.” Who are we to argue with the CEO of a major car dealer?
However, we dare to remind you that by the end of this year the Russian market will receive a little more than a million cars from various sources. At the same time, to achieve the minimum acceptable level of market saturation, our country needs a supply at least one and a half times higher. That is, before the supposed oversupply, we are still cycling to the capital of this Heavenly Empire.
But specialists from the AutoSpetsTsentr dealer holding think they know better where the dog is sniffing: “Since the beginning of 2023, the cost of cars on the Russian market has increased by 18%. In the fall, prices rose to their maximum levels, leading to a slight decrease in demand. Now some Chinese brands have lowered their prices due to the strengthening of the ruble, but for now this is a short-term trend.” The performance of car manufacturers should not be underestimated – by the fall, the weighted average price for passenger cars had risen much steeper compared to the previous year – from 2,380 thousand to 3,027 thousand rubles.
Igor Morzharetto, a partner at the analysis agency Autostat, is quoted by the portal bfm.ru: “When companies brought cars here, they took with them very serious risks, possible fluctuations in the ruble and so on, that is basically the margin that was built in there , and the dealer price is very serious and now makes it possible, by sacrificing part of it, to try to get that very rare buyer. You should not expect an attraction of unprecedented generosity, but in December there will be serious discounts on many models, not all.”
Greed factor
It wasn’t until the third month that the Vigilant Falcon collective noticed that the shed had no fourth wall. According to the aforementioned agency Avtostat, the weighted average price for passenger cars has gradually fallen since September, but will not fall below the 3 million mark. This factor of greed alone should have crashed the market. And in our case, this was supplemented by a sharp increase in recycling costs, an increase in the cost of loans due to the Central Bank raising the policy rate, a collapse in the exchange rate of the ruble and other issues close to the buyer’s heart.
But this is a theory that has always been treated with disdain in Russian practice. Sales continued to rise persistently, if slowly, only slowing slightly at the end of November, when 109.7 thousand cars were sold, compared to 112.2 thousand in October.
Great Chinese price
We wholeheartedly agree with the timid assumption of experts that the decline in car prices is a very short-term trend and insignificant against the background of the speed at which these prices have risen. People were really stunned by the amount they were offered to pay for Chinese and domestic goods, as memories are fresh that quite recently such price lists for German premiums were rolled out. The Russian driver’s desire to buy has decreased somewhat, but this is a temporary phenomenon. They will spend the winter, get used to it and again go to car dealers for the coveted carrot.
Moreover, no one cancels the upcoming seasonal price increase in January-February, which has become a habit among manufacturers and sellers. As they say: this has never happened before, and here it is again. The universe will not turn upside down, no matter how much we want it to. Soon everything will return to normal – car dealers will again begin to race to rewrite the price tags in the direction of increasing them, so that their current demands will seem very moderate to us.
Photo globallookpress.com
Photo globallookpress.com
It is difficult to surprise experienced car experts with anything, even if something incomprehensible happens, such as the fact that prices for Chinese cars have suddenly fallen. Chery led the way. The crossover Tiggo 8 Pro fell in price by as much as 350 thousand rubles, or 6.7%. For a pair of Tiggo 7 Pro Max configurations, the price dropped by 110 thousand, Arrizo 8 knocked off 150 thousand to buyers.
A bad example is contagious, and Haval succumbed to it and rewrote the Jolion price tag by 100,000. Changan rushed to save fans of the brand from 30 to 100 thousand, depending on the equipment. But everyone was outdone by JAC, which gave drivers who looked at the JS6 a truly royal gift: 499 thousand rubles. Well, and so on – after all, we are not Quattroruote to overload the reader’s brain with boring price lists. The trend is already clear.
Every question – every answer
The General Director of the Avtodom holding, Andrei Olkhovsky, commented to Gazeta.ru on this trick of our savior friends from the Middle Kingdom: “If the trend of increasing car imports from China continues, by 2024 there could be an oversupply of Chinese are brands. and the competition between them.” Who are we to argue with the CEO of a major car dealer?
However, we dare to remind you that by the end of this year the Russian market will receive a little more than a million cars from various sources. At the same time, to achieve the minimum acceptable level of market saturation, our country needs a supply at least one and a half times higher. That is, before the supposed oversupply, we are still cycling to the capital of this Heavenly Empire.
But specialists from the AutoSpetsTsentr dealer holding think they know better where the dog is sniffing: “Since the beginning of 2023, the cost of cars on the Russian market has increased by 18%. In the fall, prices rose to their maximum levels, leading to a slight decrease in demand. Now some Chinese brands have lowered their prices due to the strengthening of the ruble, but for now this is a short-term trend.” The performance of car manufacturers should not be underestimated – by the fall, the weighted average price for passenger cars had risen much steeper compared to the previous year – from 2,380 thousand to 3,027 thousand rubles.
Igor Morzharetto, a partner at the analysis agency Autostat, is quoted by the portal bfm.ru: “When companies brought cars here, they took with them very serious risks, possible fluctuations in the ruble and so on, that is basically the margin that was built in there , and the dealer price is very serious and now makes it possible, by sacrificing part of it, to try to get that very rare buyer. You should not expect an attraction of unprecedented generosity, but in December there will be serious discounts on many models, not all.”
Greed factor
It wasn’t until the third month that the Vigilant Falcon collective noticed that the shed had no fourth wall. According to the aforementioned agency Avtostat, the weighted average price for passenger cars has gradually fallen since September, but will not fall below the 3 million mark. This factor of greed alone should have crashed the market. And in our case, this was supplemented by a sharp increase in recycling costs, an increase in the cost of loans due to the Central Bank raising the policy rate, a collapse in the exchange rate of the ruble and other issues close to the buyer’s heart.
But this is a theory that has always been treated with disdain in Russian practice. Sales continued to rise persistently, if slowly, only slowing slightly at the end of November, when 109.7 thousand cars were sold, compared to 112.2 thousand in October.
Great Chinese price
We wholeheartedly agree with the timid assumption of experts that the decline in car prices is a very short-term trend and insignificant against the background of the speed at which these prices have risen. People were really stunned by the amount they were offered to pay for Chinese and domestic goods, as memories are fresh that quite recently such price lists for German premiums were rolled out. The Russian driver’s desire to buy has decreased somewhat, but this is a temporary phenomenon. They will spend the winter, get used to it and again go to car dealers for the coveted carrot.
Moreover, no one cancels the upcoming seasonal price increase in January-February, which has become a habit among manufacturers and sellers. As they say: this has never happened before, and here it is again. The universe will not turn upside down, no matter how much we want it to. Soon everything will return to normal – car dealers will again begin to race to rewrite the price tags in the direction of increasing them, so that their current demands will seem very moderate to us.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
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