China’s Chery Auto Manufacturer Now The Largest Foreign Company In Russia By Revenue

Chinese car manufacturers Chery has become the largest foreign company in Russia by revenue in 2023, according to Forbes magazine. Chery is the first ever Chinese company to claim the top spot in the Forbes ranking. The brand increased its sales in Russia by 300% year-on-year to over ₽590 billion (US$6.65 billion).

According to the Russian analytics agency Autostat, Chery was the second best-selling brand in Russia last year after the Russian Lada, boasting an 11% share of the market.

Apart from Chery, a number of other Chinese brands, such as Haval, Geely, Changan, Exeed, and Omoda are also present in the Russian market. Carmakers from China replaced European, Japanese, and Korean firms that left Russia following the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and the massive Western sanctions campaign against Moscow that followed.

Previously, EU carmakers topped the Forbes list for Russia generated revenues, with German conglomerate Volkswagen Group coming first in 2022 and France’s Renault in 2020. They have now exited the Russian market and lost these income streams.

In the latest rankings, tobacco manufacturers JT Group of Japan and Philip Morris International of the United States were the second and third largest revenue generators in Russia, respectively, with PepsiCo fourth, their positions unchanged since the previous year.

The leader of last year’s rating, French home goods retailer Leroy Merlin, dropped out of the rankings after its parent company, Adeo Group, transferred control of its Russian assets to local management. Leroy Merlin’s revenue in Russia in 2022 had reached nearly ₽530 billion (nearly US$6 billion), however its decision to exit has seen it lose that income.