In January 2018, sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia by 31,3% compared with January 2017 and amounted to 102 464 cars, according to the Automobile Manufacturers Committee of the Association of European Businesses. Compared to December 2017, the sales dropped 38.3%.
«A strong start for the Russian car market in 2018. Partly owed to a low prior year base, the 31% headline growth in January is remarkable in the sense that it is the largest year-on-year improvement in a single month since 2011. Positive sales momentum can be expected to continue in the short term, although likely at a somewhat dampened pace. Customers are responding well to the current product and price offerings, aware of the fact that 2017 model year incentives are limited as the sell-out of respective dealer stocks is progressing faster than in recent years», Joerg Schreiber, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, commented.
Lada, which continues to rate the first in the Russian market, sold 21 thousand cars in January, up 28.6% year-on-year but down 35.5% compared to December 2017.
KIA rates the second with 15.3 thousand of sold cars, up 48.6% year-on-year and up 15.9% month-on-month. Hyundai rating the third saw its sales grow 30.7% year-on-year and drop 41.6% month-on-month to 8.8 thousand units.
Renault rating the fourth sold in January 7.9 thousand cars, up 51.3 year-on-year and down 45.9% month-on-month. Volkswagen, which replaced Toyota in the fifth position, increased car sales 22.1% year-on-year to 5.6 thousand cars, which is 46% less than in January 2017.
Among the brands that saw their sales increase the most were Genesis (up 8-fold), Foton (up 6.7-fold), Zotye (up 5.8-fold), Ravon (up 3.3-fold), Honda (up 2.5-fold), DFM (up 2.4-fold), Smart (up 2.1-fold), and Subaru (up 2-fold).
On the other hand, some brands’ sales declined significantly, which is the case for HTM (-83%), Brilliance (-54%), Isuzu (-51%), Cadillac (-54%) and Isuzu (-20%).