According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) statistics, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in January-October 2019 declined by 2.4% year-on-year making over 1.42 mn units. In October, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles were down 5.2% year-on-year to 152.1 thousand.
“Total market sales in October underachieved last year’s result by 5.2%, firmly keeping the market on the path of a slow but continuous erosion of the much-needed volume gains secured in the years 2017-2018. This is not the direction the industry wants or needs, of course, but it is hard to see at the moment where a change to the better should be coming from any time soon”, commented Joerg Schreiber, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee.
Lada remained the leader of the Russian car market in October with its sales decreasing for the first time since the year start by 5.5% year-on-year down to 30.2 thousand units.
KIA continues to rate the second with its sales amounting to 20.1 thousand cars, down 4.1% year-on-year.
Hyundai remains the third with its sales on the previous year’s level at 15.8 thousand cars.
Renault saw its sales grow by 12.5% year-on-year up to 13.7 thousand units.
Volkswagen forced Toyota down in the rating in October and rates the fifth, however its sales declined by 6.8% down to 9.3 thousand units.
Among the car brands that demonstrated the most spectacular growth in October were Haval (up 4.2-fold), Brilliance (up 2.6-fold), Geely (up 2.4-fold), Changan (up 2.2-fold), and smart (up 2-fold).
The brands that saw their sales decline the most were Ford (-97%), Lifan (-85%), Zotye (-84%), HTM (-81%), Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles (-78%), Foton commercial vehicles (-73%), Nissan commercial vehicles (-60%), Infiniti (-49%), and Chrysler (-44%).