During Q1 2018 the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia made almost 392.9 thousand units, up 21.7% year-on-year.
According to the Association on European Businesses (AEB), in March sales grew 13.9% to 157.3 thousand units. Month-on-month, the growth was 18.1%.
“Market momentum in March continued at a robust pace, concluding a 12-month long period of uninterrupted year-on-year recovery. From now on, it will be harder, at the same time significantly more valuable for the market to achieve substantial growth rates on a continuous basis. Market participants consent in that the prospect of further growth is the most likely scenario for 2018. AEB members forecast total market sales to improve by about 10% compared to 2017, to a level of 1.75 million units”, Joerg Schreiber, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, commented.
Lada remains the leader of the Russian car market in March with its sales growing 22% year-on-year up to 30.7 thousand units.
KIA continues to rate the second with its sales up 31% to 19.1 thousand cars.
Hyundai remains the third increasing its sales 17% up to 16.7 thousand cars.
Renault saw its sales grow 25% year-on-year to 14 thousand units, this brand rates the fourth.
Toyota forced Volkswagen down in rating in March overtaking the fifth position with its sales amounting to some 8.9 thousand units (down 8% year-on-year).
Among the car brands that demonstrated the most spectacular growth in March are Chrysler (up 10-fold), FAW (up 5.1-fold), Hyundai (up 3.8-fold), Honda (up 3.1-fold), Zotye (up 2.5-fold), Foton (up 2.1-fold), and Iveco (up 2-fold).
The brands that saw their signs decline the most are HTM (-90%), Genesis (-48%), Cadillac (-43%), Geely (-39%), УАЗ (-38%), and Datsun (-36%).