The Russian president Vladimir Putin has consistently commended Chinese automakers in recent years while urging them to establish local manufacturing operations in the country.
Exactly a year ago, when asked about the increasing demand for Chinese vehicles in Russia, Putin said the world’s second largest economy had began to make goods better and cheaper than Europe.
“This is not even due to the fact that German manufacturers have begun to leave us, but is primarily due to the fact that Chinese manufacturers have begun to make goods better than in Europe and cheaper. This is the main indicator,” he said.
Back then, Putin added that Russia was “striving for maximum localization” including “production of component parts of cars exactly in our market, in our economy, at our production facilities.”
In 2024, sales of Chinese-brand vehicles in Russia exceeded one million units for the first time. Three years earlier, in 2021, the figures stood at 115,700 vehicles.
Exports to Russia More than Halved
Data from the China Passenger Car Association showed earlier this month that Chinese automakers shipped 357,700 vehicles to Russia in the first nine months of this year.
The figures represented a 58% year over year decline and ended Russia’s two-year reign as China’s largest automotive export market.
The country trails now Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
Brands such as Li Auto, Voyah and Zeekr are among the top exporters to the Russian market.
Li Auto, known as Lixiang in China, is planned to open its first showroom in Russia over the next few weeks. In October, the company’s deliveries in the country stood just below 1,500 units.
Putin Praises Chinese EVs
In a new interview with Nomad television on Thursday, Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his praise for Chinese electric vehicles.
“The Chinese make electric cars better and cheaper than Europeans. The European automotive industry is in tatters overall,” he stated.
Development of cooperation between Russia and Asia is not the turn of recent years, the head of state stressed.
“The point is not that we make a kind of a strategic turn in connection with developments in Ukraine. We indeed started paying more attention to this side – not because we have any problems occurred with our European partners but because the economy of countries of the East, countries of the Greater South – it is developing at a higher pace than the economy of Western countries,” Putin said.
Extra Tariffs
Claiming the brands producing cars in China and exporting them to Europe benefit from local subsidies, the European Commission opened in late 2023 an anti-subsidy investigation against several automakers and announced a year later extra duties.
BYD faced an extra tariff of 17% while Geely and the SAIC Group received a 18.8% and 35.3% duty, respectively.
“Other cooperating companies will be subject to a duty of 20.7%. Following a substantiated request for an individual examination, Tesla will be assigned a duty of 7.8%,” the European Commission said at the time. “All other non-cooperating companies will have a duty of 35.3%.”
