There are "gray" schemes in Russia for importing cars from abroad, with the help of which, under the guise of importing to an individual with the payment of a preferential recycling fee, foreign cars are brought for resale, and dealers do this as well. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, explaining the need to increase the recycling fee.
According to him, this situation leads to a significant distortion of the market. Alikhanov pointed out that in the previous increase in the recycling fee in 2024, car prices did not increase, and a number of dealers even recorded a decrease in the cost of a number of models.
The decision to change the recycling fee is overdue, but I understand that it is unlikely to cause joy.
The head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade added that since the domestic car market is mainly saturated by imports, companies that have opened factories in Russia, including Chinese ones, will stop investing.
It is not planned to increase the recycling fee for cars with a capacity of more than 160 hp, and this is more than 80% of cars in the country. Cars such as BMW or Volkswagen do not belong to the economy segment.
Revenues to the Russian budget from the recycling fee for vehicles in 2026 are expected to be at the level of 1.65 trillion rubles.