In Russia, the number of expensive cars subject to sanctions has increased

In 2022, the number of cars costing more than 10 million rubles in Russia increased by 22 percent to 19.8 thousand. This is happening in spite of the ban of the European Union on importing cars into Russia that are even twice as cheap as this bar, effective from March 2022. RBC writes about it.

Sanctions on the export of luxury goods to Russia came into force in March 2022, after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The ban applies to cars worth more than 50 thousand euros (more than 5.8 million rubles at the then exchange rate, 5.3 million at the current rate).

“Those who support Putin’s military machine should no longer have the opportunity to enjoy a luxurious life while bombs are falling on civilians in Ukraine,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the time. In April of the same year, Japan introduced similar rules.

According to the statistics of the Russian Tax Service, studied by the FinExpertiza group, most of the cars worth more than 10 million are registered in Moscow, 8.2 thousand, St. Petersburg (2 thousand) and the Moscow region (1.6 thousand). One such car was registered in the Jewish Autonomous Region and in Chukotka, two in Tuva, and three in the Nenets Autonomous District. Nevertheless, an increase in the number of expensive cars in 2022 was noted in 76 subjects of the federation.

Many of the machines in the sector are manufactured in Europe or by European companies. The seller of one of the luxury brands told RBC that the best-selling car of the Lamborghini brand was the URUS SUV, with an average price of more than 52 million rubles, while Bentley had the Bentayga (over 50 million). Manufacturers do not provide them with service support, machines and spare parts for them are most often smuggled into the country.

The cost of such cars has doubled since the beginning of the war, and the volume of sales has decreased by about a third, it follows from the text. “But the market is alive,” the representative of the car dealership told the publication. In his company, the most expensive car sold in 2022 cost approximately 300 million rubles, it was a Lamborghini Sian.