The market of new passenger cars has added 50-60% in 1.5 months amid the government’s initiative to introduce a 15% military tax on car buyers, according to AUTO-Consulting, an information and analytical group.
“It is safe to say that rumors of a 15% additional tax have activated about 4000+ buyers of new cars in 1.5 months. And this added 50-60% to the market. We can’t think of a more effective advertising campaign,” the group said in a statement on its website.
At the same time, in August, AUTO-Consulting recorded a 36 percent increase in sales by August 2023 and a 38 percent increase by July this year – up to 8.3 thousand units, and noted that such a number of cars have not been sold in Ukraine in a month for a long time.
“At the end of July, the beginning of the rush was already recorded, which brought a thousand additional cars to the car market,” the report recalls.
As reported, on July 18, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the Rada Bill No. 11416 on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine, which, in particular, proposed to levy 15% of the military tax on car buyers, which was opposed by a number of car business representatives.
In late August, the finalized draft law no longer contained this provision.
AUTO-Consulting notes that not all dealers were ready for such a sharp jump in sales, but the market leader Toyota confidently kept its pace (up 44.5% compared to July), and Renault managed to move up to second place from third in July with a 76.2% increase in sales. BMW has consolidated its position in the top three, while Skoda, which took fourth place, almost doubled its sales.
“It is interesting that for the second month we have seen an abnormal number of electric vehicles – 16%, and some brands of ‘Chinese imports’ have already registered in the top ten,” the group’s analysts note.
At the same time, they suggest that some of these cars were indeed purchased, but a significant amount was simply registered by dealers to avoid the possible consequences of a 15% rise in price during the introduction of the military tax.
“Therefore, we will see the real volume of “electric trains” by the end of September, when the excitement around the new taxes will disappear,” they summarize.
AUTO-Consulting also emphasizes that not only the threat of the military tax has activated the car market – during the month there were large purchases by corporate clients, many cars were bought by the state, so this is a complex result.
