Preferential car loan program in Russia to be additionally funded by 10 bln rubles - industry and trade minister
TOLYATTI. Aug 8 (Interfax) - The Industry and Trade Ministry expects a revival of car lending amid the Central Bank of Russia's key rate reduction, and for its part is ready to provide additional funding of around 10 billion rubles for the industry's preferential lending program, Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said at a meeting with Samara region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.
Support measures for the automotive market were discussed during Alikhanov's visit to Tolyatti, where he met with the management of Avtovaz .
"I am confident that we will find a solution in the near future. It is very important, of course, that the Central Bank is now lowering the rate, and we hope for a revival of car lending, because the key task now is to support car lending. Internally, we have also decided to provide additional funding for support measures specifically related to preferential lending - we will find about 10 billion rubles to additionally support preferential car loans. We hope that this will help Avtovaz and other Russian domestic car manufacturers," Alikhanov said.
Within the framework of preferential car loan programs in Russia, 20% discounts are subsidized on internal combustion engine vehicles (for residents of the Far East - 25% and for electric cars - 35%). In May, the program was expanded to include families with two or more children (under the Family Car subprogram, the discount is 10%).
Total budget funds allocated for subsidizing discounts under the preferential car loan programs in Russia in 2025 was set at 36 billion rubles, and for preferential leasing - 27 billion rubles.
According to the Industry and Trade Ministry, as of the end of H1 2025, state preferential loan and leasing programs stimulated the sale of almost 82,500 cars, with the amount of granted discounts amounting to around 24.5 billion rubles. Thanks to preferential car loans, 51,700 cars were sold, and more than 30,700 were sold under the preferential leasing program. "About 60,800 cars within the scope of both programs were highly localized Lada models," the ministry said.
Sales of new passenger and light commercial vehicles in Russia in H1 2025, as previously reported by the Industry and Trade Ministry citing data from electronic vehicle passport registrations, totaled 575,500 (-25.7%).
The car market, under pressure from high rates and large inventories, revived somewhat in July, showing the best result this year - 129,200 new passenger cars and LCVs were sold, a third more than in June and only 11% less than in the same month last year.
