New-car sales in Russia fell 37 percent in January
By Andrew C., 30 Aug, 2010. 0 Comments
Hopes that a second consecutive year of collapse could be avoided are dimming. New-car sales in Russia dropped 37% in January from a year before. Data show that market leader Lada, which is owned by Russia's biggest carmaker AvtoVAZ, sold 17,308 units in January, a 41% drop from last year.
The Association of European Businesses (AEB), which compiles the data, said that it‚ still too early to make conclusions as the likely outlook for the whole of this year could only be made at the end of the quarter. In a statement, Martin Jahn, vice chairman of the AEB's Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said that traditionally, January sales are weak because of the long holiday period and a decrease in consumer activity. A market revival is anticipated in February. Signs of recovery have been seen in Russia‚ economy however, they have mostly been due to exports, as consumers are still reluctant to spend. This is bad news for Russia's car market, which, before the recession, had been on track to overtake Germany as Europe's largest. Sales were halved in 2009 to 1.47 million units.
[via autonews - sub. required]
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