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.  

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