Results of the year for the Ukrainian new passenger car market

Anna Tkach

AutoPortal editorial team

1,436 views 2 min read

During the past 2019, almost 88.5 thousand new passenger cars were registered in Ukraine.

Year results: despite a significant influx of used foreign cars and official recognition of cars with foreign registration, sales of new cars in Ukraine grew by 8 percent over twelve months.

Let's recall how the market situation developed during 2019.

The year started rather sluggishly: in January and February, new passenger car registration figures lagged behind the same months of the previous year by 21% and 2%, respectively. There were several reasons. First of all, the lifting of restrictions on the sale of cars registered under the preferential excise tax in accordance with law No. 1389-VIII (in effect since August 2016), plus a reduction in excise rates, and most importantly, a grace period for legalizing so-called euro plates, which lasted almost until the end of February.

However, by spring the picture changed: registrations went up. In total, for March, April, and May, the market grew by 3% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Summer demand also turned out to be higher than last year — plus 9 percent, although June dipped slightly.

In autumn, the positive dynamics finally solidified: over three months, growth reached 16%, which practically guaranteed a successful outcome for the entire year.

A real surge occurred in December — the last month of the year showed plus 31%, and the Ukrainian car fleet was replenished with 9.2 thousand new passenger cars.

Now about buyer preferences. At the end of the year, RENAULT became the undisputed leader among brands — its models received 14,603 first registration numbers, which is two-thirds more than in 2018.

The most popular model was the KIA Sportage: 6,027 Ukrainians chose it. Sales of this crossover soared by 93 percent over the year.

Top 10 brands for 2019:

1. RENAULT – 14,603 units;

2. TOYOTA – 12,570 units;

3. KIA – 7,586 units;

4. SKODA – 6,231 units;

5. NISSAN – 5,333 units;

6. HYUNDAI – 5,099 units;

7. VOLKSWAGEN – 4,675 units;

8. SUZUKI – 2,614 units;

9. MAZDA – 2,483 units;

10. PEUGEOT – 2,366 units.