Kazakhstan’s automotive industry hits plateau

Recent findings indicate a 1.1% year-on-year decline in vehicle production over the first four months of 2025 / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Dastan Shanay

In April 2025, Kazakhstan’s automotive manufacturing proved resilient despite a slight decrease in output. According to recent data from Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics, cited by the Kazakhstan Automobile Union, Kazakhstani enterprises manufactured 13,886 vehicles in April. This is a 1.4% year-on-year (YoY) decline compared to 14,062 units in the same month last year. The value of vehicles produced, however, rose from 172.2 billion tenge (around $337.4 million) last year to 196.3 billion tenge ($384.6 million), with the automotive industry accounting for a 41.5% share in the total volume of machinery manufacturing. Meanwhile, truck production dropped by 13%.

Over the first four months of 2025, output volumes showed little to no YoY change, totaling 47,041 vehicles (down 1.1%) valued at 638.7 billion tenge (approximately $1.3 billion), compared to 47,548 units and 593.1 billion tenge ($1.16 billion) in the same period last year.

Passenger cars still account for the biggest share in vehicle production (43,155 vehicles, down 1.1%), while truck and bus production output declined by 13.1% (1,813 units) and 0.8% (734 units), respectively.

According to the union’s president Anar Makasheva, the industry findings confirm the resilience and predictability of Kazakhstan’s machinery manufacturing sector in terms of development:

«We expect production output to grow, driven by model range expansion, when the two new factories are launched in Almaty and Kostanay. On top of that, the local content share is growing — the number of domestically produced components is increasing, allowing for the creation of new jobs and the development of industrial infrastructure outside the big cities.»

Output volumes broken down by region and production facilities

Covering the first four months of 2025, the Kostanay-based Allur plant reported the highest number of vehicles produced (24,989), despite a 17.3% decline. Hyundai Trans Almaty and Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan — both located in Almaty — produced 18,819 passenger and commercial vehicles, marking a 39.4% YoY increase. SemAZ and Daewoo Bus Kazakhstan in Semey manufactured more than 1,111 commercial vehicles (down 33.9%). At the same time, QazTehna, a factory operating in the Karaganda region, increased its output by 15.8% to 476 vehicles. KAMAZ-Engineering, based in Kokshetau, reported a 17.1% increase to 363 vehicles.

Leading automotive brands and models in Kazakhstan

Here are the top five brands by passenger vehicle production output for the first four months of 2025:

Hyundai: 18,625 vehicles;
Chevrolet: 9,786 vehicles;
Kia: 8,165 vehicles;
Jetour: 3,521 vehicles;
Jac: 2,606 vehicles.

The models produced by brand:

Chevrolet Cobalt: 8,235 vehicles;
Hyundai Tucson: 7,224 vehicles;
Kia Sportage: 3,962 vehicles;
Hyundai Santa Fe: 2,778 vehicles;
Hyundai Mufasa: 2,449 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstani factories produced 11,300 vehicles in February, marking a 3.2% YoY decline, according to late March findings.