According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) statistics, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in January-May 2019 declined by 2.2% year-on-year amounting to 677.6 thousand mn units. In May, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles dropped by 6.7% down to 137.6 thousand units.
“No good news from the automotive market in May, instead a nearly 7% drop in sales volume – the most noticeable year-on-year loss in over 2 years. Of course, it could be said that the extraordinary warm weather this year is not helping retail sales as many people spend more time than usual away from the big cities and their shopping malls. The main reason of the current trend however remains a weaker retail demand, driven by macroeconomic factors such as rising household costs in the wake of the VAT increase earlier this year. Specifically automotive, we have a market that is still digesting a substantial reduction in government subsidies stimulating retail purchases in the past. We will have to see how these factors play out over time, but for now we are looking at a rather challenging environment”, commented Joerg Schreiber, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee.
Lada remained the leader of the Russian car market in April with its sales increasing by just 0.3% year-on-year up to 28. thousand units. All the other four brands of the Top 5 demonstrated a negative trend.
KIA continues to rate the second with its sales amounting to 19.5 thousand cars, down 0.5% year-on-year.
Hyundai remains the third, its sales declined by 6.1% down to 14.9 thousand cars.
Renault saw its sales drop by 12.6% year-on-year down to 10.6 thousand units.
Volkswagen rates the fifth, its sales decreased by 3.6% down to 8.7 thousand units.
Among the car brands that demonstrated the most spectacular growth in May were Geely (up 3.4-fold) anf Haval (up 2.5-fold).
The brands that saw their sales decline the most were HTM (-88%), Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles (-87%), Honda (-65%), Foton commercial vehicles (-57%), FAW (-56%), and Jaguar (-53%).