Plug-in vehicles reach record 11.5% share of weekly new-car sales in Russia
Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for a record 11.5% of Russian new passenger-car sales from September 19 to 25. Including conventional and mild hybrids, electrified models represented 14% of the market, or roughly one in seven purchases.
Plug-in hybrids set a weekly record
Vehicles with an electric component captured a record share of Russia’s new passenger-car market in the week from September 19 to 25, according to figures reported by Za Rulem. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, accounted for 8.5% of sales, their highest weekly result recorded in the source data.
Battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, represented another 3% of sales. Together, models that can be charged from the grid reached 11.5% of the new passenger-car market. Conventional hybrids and mild hybrids, classified as HEVs and MHEVs, contributed a further 2.5%, taking the combined share of all electrified powertrains to 14%. That means approximately one in every seven new passenger cars sold during the week contained an electric element in its propulsion system.
Weekly performance outpaces the year-to-date market
The weekly figures were shared by Sergey Tselikov, head of the Russian automotive analytical agency Avtostat. They stand well above the cumulative results for the first 39 weeks of the year. Between December 29, 2025, and September 27, 2026, electric cars and all types of hybrids together accounted for exactly 10% of new passenger-car sales.
Within that year-to-date total, PHEVs—including extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs—held a 5.9% share. BEVs accounted for 1.2%, while conventional and mild hybrids represented 2.9%. The comparison shows that the latest weekly increase was led primarily by vehicles that can be plugged in, with PHEVs providing the largest contribution.
The difference between the cumulative and weekly shares is particularly pronounced for battery-electric cars. Their 3% result during the reported week was two and a half times the 1.2% share registered across the 39-week period. The weekly PHEV share of 8.5% was also 2.6 percentage points above its cumulative level. However, a single week does not establish whether these gains will persist through the rest of the year.
Supply becomes a constraint as demand rises
Tselikov said the significant increase in electric-car sales began in the second half of the year. Demand for PHEVs also rose sharply during that period, and dealers were unable to satisfy it quickly. According to the analyst, this supply gap produced a temporary dip in the statistics before the market resumed its weekly increase in the share of vehicles capable of electric driving.
For manufacturers and dealers, the figures point to a change in the mix of vehicles demanded by Russian buyers rather than the dominance of a single technology. PHEVs currently have the strongest position, offering electric driving while retaining an internal-combustion engine. BEVs remain a smaller segment in the cumulative data, but their latest weekly share indicates faster momentum in the second half of the year.
The immediate commercial question is whether supply can keep pace. Dealers that underestimated demand risk losing sales when inventories of plug-in models run short, while producers and vehicle suppliers have a clearer signal to allocate more capacity to PHEVs, EREVs and BEVs. The reported figures do not specify the split between imported and domestically produced models, but the rising shares are relevant to both import planning and local product strategy. Za Rulem has also reported plans for a hybrid-powered Lada Azimut, indicating that domestic manufacturers are responding to the broader shift in powertrain demand.