New bus market in Ukraine will grow by 13-15% by 2025 – expert
Sales of new buses in Ukraine in 2025 will increase by 13-15% compared to 2024, reaching 940-950 units, said Vadym Shkarupin, director of the Etalon Auto Trading House.
"Although the year is not over yet, and we, like other companies, are working, according to open data (excluding closed procurement), approximately 940-950 buses will be sold, compared to 831 buses last year," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
According to its data, the first place in sales this year belongs to the Ataman buses produced by the Cherkasy Bus plant - 370 units (market share - 39%), the second place belongs to the ZAZ buses of the Zaporizhia Automobile Plant (UKRAVTO Group) - 240 units (24%), and the third place belongs to the Etalon buses of the Chernihiv Automobile Plant - 130 units (14%).
Next in the ranking are Bohdan buses (produced by Lutsk-based BAS Motor) with 100 units (11%), and imported Isuzu buses occupy fifth place (50 units or 6% of the market).
Another 50 buses are from other manufacturers: Turkish Temsa and Otocar, as well as two Electron buses.
The largest number of buses sold were small buses – 720 units (77%), medium buses – 160 units (17%), and large buses – 60 units (6.5%).
Almost all of the buses sold were diesel-powered, and two electric buses were sold.
"Structurally, 88-90% are sales funded by public funds: for example, of the 940 buses sold, 720 are school buses. And no more than 12% is retail, but this can't even be called retail because these are enterprises purchasing buses for their own needs and for personnel transportation. We had orders from Ukrnafta, the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, and other manufacturers are also working in this direction. Meanwhile, retail is at a standstill today; there are no purchases," Shkarupin said.
At the same time, he noted that Ukrainian enterprises have jobs thanks to the School Bus program.