In recent decades, the world has seen a real boom in the automotive industry. In 2010, for the first time in history, the number of cars exceeded 1 billion. According to forecasts, by 2040 it will reach 1.8 billion units. Mass motorization stimulates demand for oil and is one of the main causes of air pollution, as well as deaths. Russia is no exception. The article will answer the question of how many cars in Russia per person.
What is motorization?
This term means the provision of the population with road transport. Calculation of its value is based on the average number of cars per 1 thousand inhabitants.
The geography of motorization is rather heterogeneous. The highest availability of passenger cars is noted in the USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia. In these countries, there is about one car per person.
The lowest level of motorization in Africa. There, in a number of countries, less than 10 cars are registered per thousand people. According to this indicator, Russia is in one of the first places in the world, however it is inferior to some developed countries, but ahead of China.
Nevertheless, in recent years there has been a rapid growth in the automotive industry in China and India. Therefore, the positions of these countries are rapidly rising and may in the foreseeable future approach the level of developed states.
Motorization of the population of Russia
The development of road transport in our country took place gradually. In the early 20th century, the so-called horse-drawn transport still dominated, and cars were more likely exotic. Their mass distribution was noted in the 30s of the last century. As a result, in the third decade, horse-drawn vehicles gave way to wheeled vehicles. But personal cars were still rare. This situation continued until 1970.
The level of motorization of the regions
Moscow was the leader in terms of the availability of passenger transport. In 2002, it had an indicator of 256 cars / 1000 people. However, by 2011, Primorsky Krai became the leader (580 cars / 1000 people), and the Russian capital went already to 8th place. Ahead of it were also the Kamchatka Territory, the Kaliningrad Region, the Murmansk, Kaluga and Pskov Regions, and the Moscow Region. This was probably due to the congestion of the capital by cars and the high availability of the metro and other types of public transport, including taxis.
In general, by 2010, the number of cars per thousand inhabitants amounted to 249 units. In 2014, this figure increased to 317. A high level of automobile provision was noted in Vladivostok, Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk, Surgut and Moscow. However, the rating of Moscow continued to fall, and in 2014 it gained a foothold in 10th place.
As for Primorye, a good indicator here is due to the proximity of Japan and China, which are one of the world leaders in auto production.
Dynamics of motorization by years
In Russia, there has been a rapid increase in the number of cars since 1970. Then for a thousand inhabitants accounted for only 5.5 cars. The growth in the number of personal cars occurred even in the crisis 90s. By 2016, the figure reached 285 cars per 1000 people.
However, the situation in Moscow is somewhat different from trends in other regions and in the whole country. Maximum motorization here was noted in 2014. Then the number of transport units per capita was 311. However, by 2016 this figure dropped to 308 cars.
Sales statistics
The crisis of recent years has affected car sales levels. So, in 2016, 1 425 791 units were sold, and a year earlier - 1 601 527 units of transport. A gradual decline has continued since 2012. However, 2017 was an exception, and total sales rose to 1 million 596 personal cars. The reason could be the relative stabilization of the situation in the country, as a result of which the fears of the Russians slightly decreased and the so-called deferred demand worked.
Most often, the choice of the population became Lada. Significantly less sales from Kia, Renault, Hyundai and Toyota. However, the popularity of Kia Rio has risen sharply over the past year.
The least bought in our country were cars of such brands as: Volvo, Porsche, Subaru, Land Rover, Audi and some others.
In 2017, Lada accounted for the largest sales growth (17%). The worst dynamics results for Toyota (0%). However, sales of premium cars, by contrast, dipped. The most lost: Audi (18%), UAZ (15%), Porsche (3–8%).
Forecast for 2018
The increase in gas prices, as well as the increase in utilization fees and excise taxes can negatively affect the desire of citizens to buy a car. First of all, this will affect sales of imported cars. However, experts are still waiting for new growth, but not as significant as in 2017.
How many cars are registered in Russia?
According to RIA Novosti, in 2016 over 44 million passenger cars were registered in Russia. There were more than 6 million trucks. There were also 2.2 million motorcycles and 890 thousand buses, 3 million trailed vehicles. The total number of cars annually increases by about 1.5 million. These are mainly cars. It is rather difficult to answer the question how many expensive cars are in Russia. Recently, however, people have preferred more budget options for cars, and the share of expensive foreign cars has been reduced.
If you answer the question: how many cars are foreign cars in Russia, then there are 25 million of them on our roads. Of these, 6 million were produced in Russia. The number of vehicles using natural gas is increasing. Now there are 1.4 million.
Electric Vehicle Sales
A feature of the Russian automobile market is that the share of electric vehicles in the total mass of sales is extremely small. At the beginning of 2017, there were only 920 electric vehicles in the country, while in the world their account goes to millions. About a third of them drive on the roads of Moscow. In other regions of the Russian Federation such machines are generally extremely few.
Most electric cars in our country account for the Nissan Leaf model, of which there are 340 units. In second place is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV (263 pcs.). And how many Tesla cars are there in Russia? The share of this manufacturer is also significant: Tesla Model S accounts for 177 copies.
Fourth position in the "Lada Hellas." There are 93 such cars. The remaining models are presented in single instances. While the authorities are in no hurry to popularize this type of transport, and the solution to environmental problems associated with cars is seen in the conversion of vehicles to gas fuel. Most likely, Russia will switch to electric transport one of the last in the world.
How many trucks in Russia
In 2018, an increase in the truck fleet was noted. In January of this year, 4.8 thousand cars were sold, which is 35.9 percent more than a year ago. Traditionally, the Russian manufacturer KamAZ remains in first place in sales. Its share in the total mass of trucks amounted to 30%, that is, 1.5 thousand units. However, this is 5.6 percent less than in January 2017. GAZ ranks second, with sales of 587 cars. In third place is the Swedish Volvo, which accounted for 406 purchased cars. Sales of the Belarusian MAZ and the Swedish Scania are somewhat less significant.
The highest growth was recorded in Hino and Volvo (over 100 percent). The decrease is characteristic only for KamAZ. On the whole, the share of foreign manufacturers is growing in the structure of the freight transport market.
Car Market Forecast
In 2017, after four years of decline, sales grew by 12.5%. As for 2018, it is predicted that the number of cars sold will increase by another 11%. Their number will be 1.64 million transport units. The share of domestic cars in the sales structure will remain unchanged at 83%.
The growth of the freight transport market is also expected. It can make up 10% and reach 88 thousand pieces. For buses, this figure will be 16%.
