According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) statistics, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia during January-September 2020 declined by 13.9% year-on-year making about 1.1 mn units.
In September, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles were up 3.4% year-on-year and up 12.3% month-on-month to make 154.4 thousand units.
“Traditionally September is a good month for the automotive business. Besides deferred purchase demand and weakening Ruble, lower travel activities and the state support measures led to the second growth month this year with an increase of 3,4% versus September 2019. For the first time this year, the biggest players could even outperform the market average and contributed to more mild YoY decrease of 13,9%. Hoping for a relatively stable fourth quarter without serious business limitations, despite currently worsening pandemic situation, the new AEB AMC 2020 forecast is more positive with 1 522 k passenger vehicles and LCVs, which means 13,5% decrease YoY,” Thomas Staertzel, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, commented.
Lada remained the leader of the Russian car market in September with its sales up 11.9% year-on-year to 35.3 thousand units.
KIA continues to rate the second with its sales amounting to 20.4 thousand cars, up 6.3% year-on-year.
Hyundai remains the third with its sales up 14.5% year-on-year to 18.4 thousand cars.
Renault saw its sales grow by 5.1% year-on-year up to 14 thousand units and was the fourth.
Volkswagen ranked the fifth, its sales increased by 11.7% up to sine 10.7 thousand units.
Among the car brands that demonstrated the most spectacular growth in September were Changan (up 3.3-fold), Cadillac (up 2.8-fold), Geely (up 2.7-fold), Chery (up 2.5-fold), and Foton commercial vehicles (up 2.3-fold).
The brands that saw their sales decline the most were Ford (-99%), Chevrolet (-97%), and Zotye (-82%).