Russia's car industry — one of the country's most important sectors — has seen a total collapse, according to Yale School of Management data shared with Insider. Plummeting car sales and a dramatic swing in the type of cars locals now purchase point toBefore the invasion, about 100,000 automobiles were sold every month across Russia.
Dig a little further, too, and you can see that foreign automobile sales in particular paint a bleak picture. Dozens of Western names pulled out of Russia in 2022, which left locals mostly with cheaper, lower quality alternatives. By January 2023, Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Mazda, and others saw more than 90% declines in year-over-year car sales in Russia.
Now, Russians have had to turn to the local brand Lada for their cars, a company with a reputation for mechanical issues and suspect quality.