Every fifth Russians would like to buy a car, basically – a foreign car. Getting a car loan is the most popular way to pay for the car.  

MOSCOW, May 11, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing how many Russians have a car; how many Russians would like to have a car, as well as what kind of car and how they are going to pay for that?

Year by year the number of car owners in Russia is increasing: by 2012 the share of such respondents has made up 47% (in 2006 - 36%), including 43% of those who have a car in the family and 4% of those who have more than one car.  52% of respondents do not have a car. Those who have one car in the family often live in middle cities (48%); those who have several cars tend to reside in the capitals (8%).

The majority of Russians owns used cars produced in Russia; however the share of such respondents is decreasing (from 50% in 2010 to 41% this year). They are followed by those who have used cars produced abroad; this share is increasing (from 24 to 31%).  The share of those who drive new Russian cars (15%) is equaled to the share of those using new foreign cars (16%). Those who own domestic cars often reside in small cities and rural area (19-20% - new cars, 44-56% - used cars). New foreign cars are often used by Muscovites and St.Petersburgians (34%), used cars are equally used by metropolitan residents (42%), and Russians living in small cities (41%).

Nineteen percent of Russians are planning to buy a car (15% a year ago); most of them are going to do that in the next two or three years (11%), other 5% - during a year, 2% - during half a year, 1% - during the month. The majority of those who would like to buy a car opt for a foreign car (67%): 35% - a new one, 32% - a used one (in 2010 – 29 and 24%, respectively). Domestic cars are appreciated by 26% of Russians: new car – 14% (in 2010– 19%), used car – 9%.

As before, getting a car loan is the most popular way to purchase a car (46%, a year ago – 37%). The share of those who would like to make a payment in cash is still high (37%). The proportion of those who would borrow money from friends and relatives to buy a car has decreased (8% versus 12% a year ago).

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted April 14-15, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!