December 15, 2025

Russia's Top Car is a Soviet Staple


Russia's Top Car is a Soviet Staple
The Lada Iskra. Auto.ru

On December 10, Russian car sale website Auto.ru announced the best new cars of the year as chosen by consumers. Forty-one new models, all released in 2025, went head-to-head. More than 260,000 voters decided the results in six categories.

Chinese-designed and manufactured cars dominated the event; 26 models participated, followed by four from South Korea and three from Russia. The remaining eight models were all in the “parallel” category, which included cars from Japan, Germany, and the Czech Republic, imported to Russia indirectly through other countries.

The overall best car was the Lada Iskra (“Spark”), produced in Russia. The Iskra’s release was significantly delayed due to a break with Lada’s parent company, Renault, in 2022. Second place went to the Tank 400, from Chinese automotive manufacturer Tank, which also won the “family,” “off-road,” and “travel” categories. 

Five “green” hybrid and electric vehicles were assessed, all produced in China.

The Auto.ru New Product of the Year Competition began in 2020. Previous winners included the Toyota Land Cruiser, Range Rover, and many more competitors from major Western European and Japanese manufacturers. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, however, manufacturers highlighted on Auto.ru tend to be from non-Western countries.

Auto.ru is a website for buying and selling vehicles, both new and used. The site has a monthly visitor count of 27 million users. It is a subsidiary of the Russian internet browser and tech company Yandex.

Despite only three Russian models participating in the competition, the Lada Iskra achieved a favorable ranking and a boost to the legacy brand’s image, which has long been the butt of jokes for its small, cheap, bare-bones Soviet products. In general, through, in the absence of Western and Japanese imported cars, Chinese vehicles are claiming a majority share of the Russian market.  

You Might Also Like

Cars for the Front
  • November 23, 2025

Cars for the Front

The Russian state reports that more than 5,000 vehicles confiscated from criminals have been sent to serve in the war in Ukraine.
Cracking Down on Drunk Driving
  • November 09, 2025

Cracking Down on Drunk Driving

In response to persistently high rates of drunk driving in Russia, stricter punishments are being enacted. 
A Win for the Lada
  • August 11, 2020

A Win for the Lada

Russia's iconic domestic car has been the highest-selling automobile in the last six months.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955