December 15, 2025

Russia's Top Car is a Soviet Staple


Russia's Top Car is a Soviet Staple
The Lada Iskra. Auto.ru

On December 10, Russian car sale website Auto.ru announced the best new cars of the year as chosen by consumers. Forty-one new models, all released in 2025, went head-to-head. More than 260,000 voters decided the results in six categories.

Chinese-designed and manufactured cars dominated the event; 26 models participated, followed by four from South Korea and three from Russia. The remaining eight models were all in the “parallel” category, which included cars from Japan, Germany, and the Czech Republic, imported to Russia indirectly through other countries.

The overall best car was the Lada Iskra (“Spark”), produced in Russia. The Iskra’s release was significantly delayed due to a break with Lada’s parent company, Renault, in 2022. Second place went to the Tank 400, from Chinese automotive manufacturer Tank, which also won the “family,” “off-road,” and “travel” categories. 

Five “green” hybrid and electric vehicles were assessed, all produced in China.

The Auto.ru New Product of the Year Competition began in 2020. Previous winners included the Toyota Land Cruiser, Range Rover, and many more competitors from major Western European and Japanese manufacturers. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, however, manufacturers highlighted on Auto.ru tend to be from non-Western countries.

Auto.ru is a website for buying and selling vehicles, both new and used. The site has a monthly visitor count of 27 million users. It is a subsidiary of the Russian internet browser and tech company Yandex.

Despite only three Russian models participating in the competition, the Lada Iskra achieved a favorable ranking and a boost to the legacy brand’s image, which has long been the butt of jokes for its small, cheap, bare-bones Soviet products. In general, through, in the absence of Western and Japanese imported cars, Chinese vehicles are claiming a majority share of the Russian market.  

You Might Also Like

Cars for the Front
  • November 23, 2025

Cars for the Front

The Russian state reports that more than 5,000 vehicles confiscated from criminals have been sent to serve in the war in Ukraine.
Cracking Down on Drunk Driving
  • November 09, 2025

Cracking Down on Drunk Driving

In response to persistently high rates of drunk driving in Russia, stricter punishments are being enacted. 
A Win for the Lada
  • August 11, 2020

A Win for the Lada

Russia's iconic domestic car has been the highest-selling automobile in the last six months.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955