2026 started with a massive increase in prices for new cars. January kicks off with price adjustments in price lists, the scale of which will become clear by the end of the first working week, but it’s already clear that the increase will be widespread and long-term, writes the general director of the analytical agency “AUTOSTAT” Sergey Tselikov.
In the new year, price lists were revised by Lada, “Moskvich”, UAZ, Belgee, Solaris, Omoda, Tenet, Tank, and even Xcite, which is selling off its remaining stocks, he lists. Six more brands managed to raise prices in the last two working days of 2025, calculated the car market expert, former president of the “Russian Car Dealers” association Oleg Moseev.
So far, prices have risen, on average, by 2-4%, by 40-80 thousand rubles, but these are just the first adjustments, which will be followed by others – every month, if not more often, Tselikov believes. In his opinion, if the ruble exchange rate remains stable, the car companies will first “recover” the increase in VAT (it rose from 20% to 22% in January) and the recycling fee (from December 1, preferential rates for cars with an engine capacity of over 160 hp were abolished, and from January, the rates were indexed by 10-20%). This will take about three months, during which cars will rise in price by an average of 5-6%, Tselikov believes (The Moscow Times).
