26.03.2026 / Car leasing has increased by 20% since the beginning of the year

Every third car leased is used

According to Gazprombank Autoleasing and the marketing agency NAPI, in January-February 2026, the new and used car leasing market* increased by 20% in quantitative terms year-on-year. At the same time, the used car segment shows a faster pace. If over two months since the beginning of the year, used car leasing has increased by 67.2%, then in February it was already a two-fold growth in annual terms. Thus, if a year earlier, in January-February, one of five car leased was used (22%), then in 2026 it was almost one of three (30.7%). 

January-February 2026 results

In January-February 2026, business representatives leased 21.6 thousand cars (15.0 thousand new and 6.6 thousand used), compared with 18.0 thousand units leased over the similar period of the previous year (14.1 thousand new and 4.0 thousand used). The cumulative growth in the segment since the beginning of the year was 20%, while leasing of used cars grew by 67.2% and that of new ones - by 6.6%. As a result, the share of used car segment in the new business increased from 22% to 30%.

Following results of the first two months of the current year, the share of leasing in corporate new car sales was up from 54.5% to 65.0% (+10.5 p.p.). Leasing of used cars reached 34.3% (+10.7 p.p.).

The share of Chinese cars leased decreased slightly on January-February 2025 to 46.2% (-4.4 p.p.). The share of Russian brands, on the contrary, grew by 3.2 p.p. and reached 30.9%.  In general, car leasing is growing: but while Chinese car leasing (excluding BELGEE brand) increased by 9.6% over the year, Russian cars showed a 33.6% growth.

TOP-5 car brands most often leased by businesses included LADA (21.7%), HAVAL (8.8%), BELGEE (8.6%), CHERY (8.2%), and TENET (6.9%). GEELY, TANK, HONGQI, VOYAH and EXEED rounded out TOP-10. In the rating of brands, GEELY (-38.0%) and EXEED (-21.9%) cars showed a drop in leasing. The most significant increase was achieved by VOYAH (+183.7%), HONGQI (+180.8%), and BELGEE (+137.5%) brands.

Since the beginning of 2026, LADA GRANTA, BELGEE X50, CHERY ARRIZO 8, HAVAL JOLION, and LADA LARGUS have become the most popular models among corporate clients.  TENET T4, LADA VESTA, TENET T7, LADA NIVA TRAVEL, and HONGQI H5 took the sixth to tenth place. The best positive dynamics of leasing to corporate clients was shown by HONGQI H5 (+287.4%), BELGEE X50 (+189.0%) and CHERY ARRIZO 8 (+163.3%) models.

February 2026 results

In February 2026, business representatives leased 12.5 thousand new and used cars, which was a third (32.9%) more than in February 2025. In the new car market, the number of transactions grew by 12.7% to 8.3 thousand cars, while in the used car market – by 104.3% to 4.2 thousand units.

TOP-5 brands by leasing in the last winter month included LADA with a share of 21.9% of all sales, BELGEE (12.3%), HAVAL (9.6%), CHERY (8.4%), and TENET (4.9%). In addition to Belgee (+312.9% by the number of cars leased), FAW (+554.8%) and VOYAH (+195.7%) brands are growing in popularity.

In the February model ranking, TOP-5 coincided with the results of January-February. In the last month of winter, HAVAL M6 (+454.2%) and CHERY ARRIZO 8 (+110.4%) were more actively leased.

"Car leasing is recovering from a prolonged decline in 2025 and is aiming for the January-February 2024 figures (21.3 thousand new and 4.0 thousand used), overtaking them in terms of used car leasing, but lagging behind in new car leasing. Another reduction in the key rate to 15% will give an additional impetus to leasing recovery," said Tatyana Arabadzhi, General Director at NAPI.

"The car segment has been showing positive dynamics for the third month in a row, remaining one of the main drivers of the auto leasing market. The growing share of Russian cars and declining share of Chinese ones in sales can be explained by the ongoing "Russification" of some brands from China. And this trend will only intensify in 2026. In turn, the continuation of the Central Bank's policy of easing monetary policy is, certainly, a positive signal that has set the stage for some stability in the market. But the regulator's latest decision is unlikely to lead to an active surge in sales, as the rate is still high, business is behaving cautiously, and leasing companies are seriously assessing the risk profiles of lessees," said Alexander Kornev, Head of the Department for Work with Importers at Gazprombank Autoleasing.

Leasing* of new and used cars, thousand units 

Data source: NAPI operational and financial leasing

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