The used car market 2025: import records, an electric shift, and the price of tax expectations on the eve of 2026
Time for Action analyzed how the used car market in Ukraine changed in 2025 and why this segment became the main response to society’s demand for affordable transport. The data for the year record two parallel trends at once: on the one hand, growth in the number of imported cars, and on the other, growth in financial volumes of imports, which directly affects the budget through customs payments. In 2025, used passenger cars, in particular used electric vehicles, effectively became the basic pillar of the market, while new cars remain expensive and supply in showrooms is limited. A telling starting fact of the year: demand for imported used cars increased by approximately 60% compared to 2024. This growth was not uniform the market gained momentum gradually, and showed the highest activity in autumn, when imports reached record monthly levels. At the same time, the financial side of the market was also growing. In the first half of 2025, the total value of passenger car imports, including new and used vehicles, amounted to 2.55 billion dollars, which is 12.5% more than in the same period of the previous year. An important detail: electric vehicles accounted for almost a third of all imports, and a significant part of this volume consisted of used cars. This means that electric vehicles have ceased to be a decorative “niche” and have turned into a systemic commodity flow.
Over the year, Ukraine imported more than 230 thousand used passenger cars, which is 12% more than in 2024. But this figure becomes much more telling if we look not only at the annual total, but at how the market moved throughout the year. At the beginning of 2025, imports looked restrained, but then systematic growth began. In January, 14.5 thousand cars were imported, in February 17.7 thousand, in March 20 thousand, in April 21.2 thousand, in May 22.5 thousand. Then the market entered an autumn intensification phase: in September 23.3 thousand, in October 26.1 thousand cars, which became the annual maximum. November brought a correction to 23.5 thousand cars, but this is where the real scale of growth is visible: this is -10% compared to October, but +60% compared to November 2024. For comparison, in November 2024 Ukrainians registered about 14.7 thousand used cars. The difference between 14.7 and 23.5 thousand in the same month of different years is not a minor fluctuation, but a change in market “normality”.
The geography of demand is also not accidental. The highest demand was recorded in Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Vinnytsia regions. These regions share common characteristics: developed logistics, for some proximity to the EU border, as well as relatively higher purchasing power of the population. This is important because the used car market is not an even map of the country, but a set of “points of gravity” where import channels, service, resale work, and there is money to buy even in difficult times.
In the very structure of demand in 2025, two parallel realities are visible. The first is the stable “classic” of the used market, where people buy familiar models that are easy to service and resell. Among the most popular were Volkswagen Golf, Renault Megane, Skoda Octavia, Volkswagen Tiguan, and Ford Focus. The second reality is the acceleration of electrification, which occurs mainly through imports. In 2025, the share of electric vehicles in some months reached 30–32% of all imports, and the most popular electric car models were Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model Y, and Nissan Leaf. At the same time, the average age of imported vehicles was 8–9 years, which is slightly less than in previous years. This means that even under conditions of war and pressure on incomes, the vehicle fleet through imports does not age as fast as it could, but is slowly rejuvenating.
The most interesting part of 2025 is price polarization. The market was simultaneously getting cheaper and more expensive, but in different segments. As recorded, technological and economical cars are becoming more expensive, classics are becoming cheaper. Diesel and LPG became the most affordable. Diesel cars fell in median price from $7,900 to $7,000, and cars with gas equipment fell from $3,700 to $3,000. This is not just a change in numbers it is a signal that part of the market is looking not for “newer”, but for a “cheaper entry ticket”, and is ready to take older technologies if they provide a minimal purchase budget.
Petrol cars remained stable: the median price ranged from $6,000 to $6,650 during the year. In this segment, the market holds on predictability: people understand maintenance costs, there is infrastructure, there is experience. Hybrids showed a different logic strong fluctuations and small volume. Prices moved from $16,500 at the beginning of the year to $20,000 in autumn, and by the end of the year the median price fell to $19,100. An important detail: this segment accounts for about 2% of the market, so any changes in demand can “swing” the average price more strongly.
In contrast, electric vehicles became more expensive, and the reason is stated directly: they rose in price from $15,800 in spring to $17,000 in November due to the expected return of VAT on electric car imports in 2026. This is one of the key conclusions of the year: the market reacts not only to exchange rates or incomes, but to tax expectations. When people feel that the “window of benefit” may close, they start acting faster, even if the overall economic situation is not ideal.
Analysts identified several reasons for the activation of the market in 2025: limited supply of new cars and high prices in showrooms, stabilization of the hryvnia exchange rate, tax incentives for electric vehicles, as well as people’s desire to renew their vehicle fleet at the lowest possible budget. Together, these factors created a situation where used imports became not an alternative, but the basic mechanism for transport renewal for a large number of households.
Importantly, growth was not limited to passenger cars. Imports of trucks also grew: in January–November 2025 Ukraine imported trucks worth $897.2 million, which is 7.5% more than in 2024. The main suppliers were Poland, France, and the United States. Exports of trucks remained minimal about 6 million dollars, mainly to Turkey, Romania, and Moldova. This underscores that the country primarily imports equipment for internal needs rather than selling it abroad.
A separate layer of data shows how differently three segments behave: the domestic market, used imports, and new cars. On the domestic market, as noted, everything holds on inertia: “The domestic market lives by inertia: here they buy what is understandable, easy to maintain, and has developed infrastructure that is petrol, diesel, and gas”. But imports and the new car market reacted to incentives and the calendar much faster. That is why November 2025 became a symbolic point: electric vehicles with a sales share of 40.9% significantly outpaced petrol passenger cars (26.8%) in the new car segment. This is not just a change in preferences, but the moment when electric power for the first time became the first choice for buyers of new cars.
This difference between segments was very accurately explained by Ostap Novytskyi, an expert at the Institute for Automotive Market Research. His comment is important because it does not embellish the situation, but calls it what it is: “The November snapshot of the market perfectly illustrates how tax expectations shape demand. We see two different approaches. The domestic market lives by inertia: here they buy what is understandable, easy to maintain, and has developed infrastructure that is petrol, diesel, and gas. Meanwhile, the new car market reacted to the prospect of VAT returning instantly. The fact that electric vehicles took more than 40% of the new car market, significantly ahead of petrol and hybrids, is an anomaly caused by the calendar. Buyers who hesitated made a choice in favor of ‘pure electric’ precisely because of the desire to lock in a favorable price. This is a situational peak, and in January we will probably see a market correction, when conditions for all types of engines partially level out”.
Separately, it is worth highlighting another process that became a systemic signal in 2025 the strengthening of the Chinese factor in the Ukrainian market. In November, Ukrainians purchased 3,908 passenger cars imported from China, which is 4.8 times more than in November 2024. Of this number, 3,269 were new (+368%), and 639 were used (+415%). And most importantly 93% of these cars were electric vehicles. Among the most popular new models of Chinese origin were BYD Leopard 3 385 units, Volkswagen ID.Unyx 298 units, BYD Song Plus 289 units, Zeekr 7X 221 units, BYD Sea Lion 06 220 units. Among used ones Zeekr 001 87 units, Zeekr 7X 41 units, MG ZS 32 units, BYD Leopard 3 30 units, BYD Yuan Plus 29 units. This shows that Chinese brands are no longer testing the market, but are occupying a noticeable share of it, almost entirely through the electric segment.
The extended conclusion of Time for Action is that 2025 consolidated a new reality of the Ukrainian automotive market. Used imports became the main channel for transport renewal, electric vehicles turned from an exotic option into a mass trend in imports, and tax incentives and expectations proved their power as a factor capable of changing the sales structure within a month. At the same time, the market became stratified: part of buyers go for the cheapest solutions on diesel and LPG, another part tries to “catch up” with technological mobility while it is still profitable. The most indicative aspect of this story is the different speeds of change: the domestic market remains conservative, used imports are already transforming, and the new car segment is capable of sharp jumps when the rules of the game change. On the threshold of 2026, the key question is not whether the November peak will roll back, but that the main thing has already happened: the Ukrainian market has learned to react to financial incentives instantly, and this reactivity will shape demand just as strongly as exchange rates or fuel prices.
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