The New Landscape of the Ukrainian Car Market: Stability, Electric Traction and the Triumph of Crossovers
The Ukrainian new passenger car market is experiencing a period of fundamental change, but at the same time demonstrates impressive stability even against the background of war and economic turbulence. After record growth in 2024 (up by 14%), in 2025 the market did not lose ground: from January to September, Ukrainians purchased 52.9 thousand new passenger cars this is only 0.3% less than last year. By the number of new car registrations, 2025 was only 0.9% worse than 2024. As experts from the Automotive Market Research Institute note, this is a clear sign of steady demand and preserved trust in new personal vehicles even under the constant threat.
Every month, Ukrainians spend about 12 billion UAH on new cars. In total, the market exceeded 125 billion UAH in 2024. These figures confirm that a car, even in times of martial law, remains not just a means of transportation, but also an element of personal safety and independence.
One of the main trends of the year has been the strengthening of crossovers’ positions. In September, all ten most popular models were crossovers. In addition to the familiar Toyota RAV4, Renault Duster, Hyundai Tucson, Skoda Kodiaq, and Kia Sportage, there are new generation models BUD Song Plus, Honda e:NS1, Zeekr 7X. Notably, almost half of these cars are electric. Demand for each model in the top 10 is from 100 to 400 new cars per month. This highlights that Ukrainians are increasingly choosing comfort, versatility, and innovation, even in difficult circumstances.
A special story the electric car market. In the first half of 2025, Ukrainians purchased over 5.5 thousand new electric cars 18% more than in 2024. In total, the segment of zero-emission passenger cars grew by 28% and already reached 30.8 thousand vehicles, counting both new and used cars. It is electric cars that allowed Chinese brands especially BYD and Zeekr to make a real breakthrough in the Ukrainian market. BYD not only entered the top 5 brands but even topped the list in September. Zeekr, which was 20th last year, has already come close to the top 10. Such growth is a vivid sign of market transformation and openness of consumers to new technologies.
The structure of sales channels is also changing dynamically. Major dealership holdings UkrAvto and VIDI maintain 10.3% and 9.9% of the market respectively, owning the largest network of dealerships and offering a wide range of services: from sales and maintenance to insurance, logistics, supply of spare parts. In the top three companies by turnover are “Toyota-Ukraine”, “Winner Imports Ukraine” and “Porsche Ukraine”, and among the top 5 brands, in addition to the traditional Volkswagen, Renault, Skoda, BYD and Toyota are steadily holding their positions.
The transformation has also affected leader models. The absolute bestseller in September was the Volkswagen ID.Unyx a model that last year was not even in the top 20. The popularity of other electric cars is growing rapidly. The dynamics are so high that every quarter the leaders change, and both well-known and completely new models for Ukraine appear in the top 10.
It is also worth noting that the Ukrainian market demonstrates an extremely high level of competition. According to AUTO-Consulting, in 2025, Winner and VIDI led the way in sales growth rates (over 20% annually), and the market share of dealers working with electric cars is steadily increasing.
The Ukrainian car market proves that it is able not only to survive a crisis, but also to renew itself from within. The main trends of 2025 are the dominance of crossovers, rapid growth of the electric vehicle segment, the emergence of new players from China and the strengthening of leaders among dealership holdings. Consumer behavior is also visibly changing: Ukrainians are paying more attention to economy, environmental friendliness and functionality, as well as to comfort and safety. For many, new cars have become a symbol of stability, protection, and faith in tomorrow.
In the near future, we can expect a further increase in the share of electric cars, intensified competition between brands, and a gradual transition to even more high-tech and environmentally friendly models. The Ukrainian car market is a living, mobile structure that is not afraid of change, but knows how to use it as a resource for development.
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