According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) statistics, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia during the first quarter of 2020 increased by 1.8% year-on-year making 398.5 thousand units. In March, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles were up 4% year-on-year and up 36.3 month-on-month to 162.3 thousand.
“March was a strong month with unexpected sales increase of 4% compared to the same month last year, resulting in a 1,8% growth for the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Many brands enjoyed even double digit growth in March. This strong start of the year unfortunately does not represent a growth trend, but is rather linked to artificially high anticipated sales in March, resulting from the weakening currency. Since end of March car sales and dealer operations have been sharply interrupted, following the measures related to the situation with COVID-19. The AEB appealed to the Government proposing state support measures for the automotive industry. Many manufacturers are also developing comprehensive support measures for their dealers to sustain future business operations”, Thomas Staertzel, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, commented.
Lada remained the leader of the Russian car market in March with its sales decreasing by 2.9% year-on-year down to 32.8 thousand units.
KIA continues to rate the second with its sales amounting to 19.8 thousand cars, up 1.3% year-on-year.
Hyundai remains the third with its sales down 3.1% year-on-year to 15.8 thousand cars.
Renault saw its sales grow by 4.5% year-on-year up to 13.6 thousand units.
Toyota ranks the fifth, its sales grew by 36.5% up to 12.6 thousand units.
Among the car brands that demonstrated the most spectacular growth in March were Changan (up 5.6-fold), Haval (up 2.9-fold), and Cadillac (up 2.3-fold).
The brands that saw their sales decline the most were Ford commercial vehicles (-99%), Chevrolet (-96%), smart (-92%), Zotye (-88%), Lifan (-69%), Jaguar (-59%), and Infiniti (-57%).