Despite the war and economic troubles, Ukrainians continue to buy new cars. Only during January-March, our fellow citizens purchased new vehicles for the total amount of 25 billion hryvnias, or 581 million euros. This is a record quarterly figure for the past 6 years. Note that this refers to passenger cars as well as other, in particular, commercial vehicles.
For comparison: during the first three months of last year, citizens and businesses spent 19 billion hryvnias, or 456 million euros (at the rate of 2023), on the purchase of cars. That is, over the year, the volume of purchases of new vehicles increased by 31.4% in terms of value.
25 billion hryvnias is an amount even greater than what was spent on new cars before the start of a full-scale war. Thus, during January-March 2021, 20 billion hryvnias were spent on new vehicles.
There are several reasons for this remarkable growth. One of them is deferred demand. Due to the high level of uncertainty and hostilities, many Ukrainians and business representatives refused to purchase vehicles in 2022. In 2023, the automobile market began to recover, and the improvement of the economic situation in the country at the beginning of 2024 stimulated the acceleration of purchases of new cars.
Inflation also affects the increase in indicators in the hryvnia equivalent. In addition, there is a growing demand for electric cars, which usually cost more than cars with internal combustion engines.
It is worth noting that new cars purchased by Ukrainians are mainly non-budget vehicles. This also affected the total value of cars purchased in the first quarter of 2024.
