The latest data released by the Kazakhstan Automobile Alliance shows that in June 2026, the total sales of new cars in Kazakhstan were 21860, of which China brands sold 12276, with a market share of 56.2%. This data is consistent with the reporter's local feeling. Walking on the urban roads of Almaty and Astana, China brand SUVs and cars can be seen everywhere.

The rapid increase in market share confirms that the consumer recognition of China brands in Kazakhstan continues to increase. In order to maintain its hard-won market position, localized layout has become a key breakthrough. Recently, Ideal Car's first global model, Ideal L9, was officially launched in Kazakhstan. At the same time, Ideal Automobile has reached a strategic cooperation with Kazakhstan's head car group Allur and will start localized assembly production at the Allur Kostanai factory. This is another typical case of China-Kazakhstan automobile production capacity cooperation. In just a few years, China brands have grown from marginal roles in the market to leading forces in the local auto market, continuing to rewrite the competitive landscape of the Central Asian auto market.

01 China's brand share welcomes phased breakthroughs

Currently, Central Asia is becoming an important new battlefield for China's cars to "go out to sea." Central Asia is located at the junction of Eurasia and adjacent to northwest China. It is a high-quality demonstration area for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", covering five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

The market structure in the region is clearly divided. Uzbekistan is the largest automobile consumer market in Central Asia, and Kazakhstan is the country with the largest economy in Central Asia. The automobile markets of the two countries far exceed those of the other three countries. Statistics from the Kazakhstan Automobile Alliance (KAO) show that new car sales in Kazakhstan will reach 234,800 units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%, exceeding the 200,000 mark for the second consecutive year.

Relying on its complete transportation infrastructure, relatively mature financial system and high consumption levels, Kazakhstan has become a Central Asian market where China companies have deployed large-scale operations earlier. In 2025, the sales volume of China brands in Kazakhstan will reach 85618 vehicles, with a market share of 39%. Entering 2026, the market structure will accelerate its restructuring. In the first half of this year, new car sales in Kazakhstan reached 105,900 units. Among them, new car sales in June were 21860 units. In the same month, sales of China brands increased by 49% year-on-year to 12276 vehicles, gaining a market share of 56.2%.

Kazakhstan has not released disaggregated data on the power types of new cars, but traditional fuel vehicles are still the absolute mainstream, and electrification is in the early stage of penetration. After all, including Kazakhstan, Central Asia has a vast territory, wide temperature differences, long cross-regional travel distances, and charging facilities are concentrated in large cities. Due to environmental and infrastructure constraints, the penetration rate of pure electric vehicles is low. China brands focus on fuel-fueled SUVs here, and hybrid models are gradually introduced.

Among the top ten new car sales in Kazakhstan in June, China brand models accounted for 7 models, namely Changan CS55Plus, Changan CS35Max, Jianghuai S3, Haval M6, Chery Tiggo2, Haval Jolion, and Jianghuai J7. Judging from the brand sales rankings, the top 10 China brands account for 6 seats. Among them, Chang 'an brand ranked third, with 2565 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 121.5%; Chery, Haval and Jianghuai ranked fourth to sixth respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of more than 40%; Jetu brand and Geely brand ranked eighth and ninth respectively.

The reporter noticed that in recent years, China cars have received a lot of positive market feedback in Kazakhstan. Local consumers generally believe that China cars have a sense of technology and that their overall performance is fine. Of course, some places still need to be continuously optimized. Overall, the price/performance ratio of China's cars beats Japan, South Korea, the United States and Europe. Take Arman, a friend of the reporter, as an example. He is the management of a well-known media company in Kazakhstan. His previous car was a Nissan Patrol, but now Arman is quite "obsessed" with various China brand cars. When he wanted to change cars, he was even more confused. In the end, Arman bought a Krypton 001. He was very satisfied with this car and praised everyone he met.

02 From export testing to localized assembly

Reviewing the growth path of China automobile brands in Kazakhstan, the market share has achieved leapfrog growth in just a few years. In the early days, China car companies tested the market with the direct export model of complete vehicles, and quickly seized the increase based on cost performance. Later, as market competition intensified and local industrial policies continued to adjust, the shortcomings of the pure complete vehicle import model became increasingly prominent.

Moreover, many China cars were imported in the Kazakhstan market through parallel imports before, resulting in certain problems after sales. New cars are cheap when bought, but there is no original after-sales service or recognized professional and reliable third-party after-sales organization responsible for after-sales. Once something goes wrong, it will be a headache, just like a large number of ideal cars have flowed into Central Asia through parallel exports before. Today, Ideal Automobile has officially established an official sales and service network system in Kazakhstan and started localized assembly and production.

As a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Kazakhstan implements the Union's unified external tariff system, and the comprehensive cost of vehicle imports is higher than KD parts. When car companies implement SKD/CKD local assembly, they can not only enjoy preferential tariffs on parts and components, shorten delivery times, and withstand exchange rate risks. Their products can also radiate to other member states of the Eurasian Economic Union at low cost. In this context, major vehicle companies have gradually reached a consensus that if they want to deeply cultivate Kazakhstan for a long time, they must implement localized production.

In fact, the localization layout of China car companies in Kazakhstan has long been rolled out. In the field of commercial vehicles, Yutong Group and Jianghuai implemented KD assembly capacity earlier, and China National Heavy Duty Truck also continued to promote localized production capacity cooperation. Each product covers freight trucks, urban buses, buses and other categories, and continues to support infrastructure construction and public transportation upgrading in Kazakhstan. Among them, Jianghuai has joined hands with Allur Group to continue to expand production based on the mature vehicle manufacturing base in Kostanai. It is one of the first China car companies to deeply participate in the construction of Kazakhstan's local automobile industry.

Passenger car tracks are also ushering in a concentrated production boom. Looking back in 2022, Astana Automobile Group signed a memorandum of understanding with Chery, Chang 'an and Great Wall. The following year, it started the construction of a multi-brand automobile factory in the Almaty Industrial Zone, and began production of models under Chery, Chang' an and Great Wall in 2025. Multiple brands share local assembly capacity, effectively share the cost of building a factory, and quickly realize localized supply of models.

The layout of new energy tracks also continues to accelerate. In September 2025, the first batch of BYD electric buses in Kazakhstan will be rolled off the production line at the Astana Automotive Group commercial vehicle factory.

Looking at all implementation projects, KD spare parts assembly has become the mainstream model, and few car companies have chosen to build new vehicle factories from scratch. This choice fully reflects the rational considerations of China car companies 'going out to sea" layout. Kazakhstan's local automobile industry has a weak supporting foundation. Core components such as engines, transmissions, and vehicle-mounted electronics are highly dependent on imports. New factories have large investment scales and long payback cycles. In contrast, working together with local industry leaders such as Allur Group and Astana Automobile Group to carry out SKD/CKD cooperative assembly relying on existing mature production lines, the initial investment is controllable, the project implementation speed is faster, and it can also flexibly adjust production capacity according to the market prosperity to effectively hedge the risk of demand fluctuations.

Ideal Automobile recently signed a contract with Allur Group to reach local assembly cooperation, which is also a typical practice of this model. In the future, it is ideal to realize local assembly of new L9 and other models through the Kostanay factory, completing the leap from "product export" to "local manufacturing".

Ma Donghui, co-founder, president and chief engineer of Ideal Automobile, said: "Central Asia is an important starting point for our globalization. The new Ideal L9 strengthens its flagship value with more advanced technology. Through official channels and local partners, we are committed to providing long-term and comprehensive car services to family users in Kazakhstan. The strategic signing with Allur was witnessed by President Tokayev and marks a new stage in our move from product export to localized production."

03 There are opportunities and challenges under good resonance

China automobile companies collectively rushed to Kazakhstan to deploy production capacity, and there are multiple positive resonances behind it. The first is the unique geographical location advantage. Relying on the China-Europe freight trains and the China-Kazakhstan land corridor, China parts and components can be efficiently transported to the Kazakhstan assembly base, with significant logistics timeliness advantages. At the same time, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakhstan can easily radiate to Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, forming a regional export hub.

Secondly, Kazakhstan's own industrial policy orientation. Kazakhstan will promote the development of the automobile manufacturing industry into the country's long-term development strategic layout, introduce a series of supporting policies, and encourage foreign-invested automobile companies to carry out localized assembly and production. According to the country's policies, after overseas automobile companies set up assembly plants in Kazakhstan and complete localized production records, they can obtain "locally manufactured" qualifications and enjoy multiple dividends such as government procurement preference and tariff preferences.

It is worth noting that Kazakhstan has high hopes for the development of the new energy vehicle industry and has listed new energy vehicles and charging equipment as key industries. In terms of infrastructure, Kazakhstan expects to build a total of 8000 standardized charging stations by 2030, laying a solid foundation for the popularization of new energy vehicles.

Over the years, China and Kazakhstan have continued to promote economic and trade connectivity, and cooperation projects in automobile and equipment manufacturing have continued to be implemented. Cooperation in the automobile industry is not only commodity trade, but also in-depth exchanges at the levels of technology, industrial chain and standards. For Kazakhstan, the introduction of KD projects by China automobile companies can activate existing idle industrial production capacity, create manufacturing jobs, and cultivate local automobile industry talents. At the same time, it can gradually promote the local matching of seats, interior and exterior plastic parts, wiring harnesses, vehicle-mounted electronics and other parts, drive the development of upstream and downstream small and medium-sized enterprises and form a sustainable industrial ecosystem.

In addition to opportunities, challenges cannot be ignored. First of all, Kazakhstan's local parts and components supporting capabilities are insufficient, and most core parts still need to be imported. Long-term logistics costs and exchange rate fluctuations will continue to affect terminal pricing; secondly, relevant regulations and certification standards of the Eurasian Economic Union continue to be adjusted, and car companies need to Continue to follow up compliance requirements; third, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, Korean brands continue to maintain their fundamentals, some Russian models continue to compete based on local channels, and there is also homogenization competition within China brands; Finally, the pace of local charging infrastructure construction is slow, which restricts the large-scale popularization of electric vehicles. Fuel and hybrid vehicles are still the mainstream models at this stage.

Source: China Automobile News

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