I arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan on the morning of October 19, 2024, where the temperature in October was already around 0 degrees Celsius, and it was like crossing from summer to winter in one day after traveling from Jiangsu, where it was nearly 30 degrees Celsius.

On the way from the airport to the hotel, I kept my eyes on the vehicles on the road, trying to catch those familiar car figures, and with the County’s iconic taillights coming into view, our Central Asia and Middle East inspection program officially started to bear fruit.

Hyundai and Kia models dominate the scene in Almaty, not only in terms of variety and quantity but also in terms of the speed at which they are being updated, with new models being seen everywhere on the roads, while the other brands are much older by comparison.

Along the way, we found a handful of County, not seeing any Universe buses or any of the HD heavy truck range, but we were pleased with the number of HD45/65 and H350 (low), and the large number of Kia Bongo3, both old and new model, but still not the most headline-grabbing, with Lada and KAMAZ dominating, and the medium-sized trucks are mainly isuzu.

• Arrive at Almaty
• Visit Customers