According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) statistics, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia during 2020 declined by 9.1% year-on-year making 1.59 mn units.
In December, the sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles were down 2.1% year-on-year and up 5.8% month-on-month to make 166.7 thousand units.
“The Year-end race with positive sales dynamics in September-November finished below expectations: new vehicle sales in December 2020 decreased by 2,1% vs. December 2019. The recent growth pushed by currency devaluation, post-lockdown effects and increased demand linked to awaited price adaptation has stopped and is followed by a more stable trend with lower market demand. With finally 1 598 825 passenger vehicles and LCVs, 2020 sales are even slightly higher than recent AEB AMC forecast, but still 9,1% below previous year. 2020 was another very challenging year for the Russian automotive business: only 4 months with new vehicle sales above previous year. Despite all difficulties, the sales dynamic 2020 makes Russia one of the best performers among the biggest automotive markets worldwide, and No. 4 in Europe. This year also demonstrates a quite robust position and long-term market commitment of the manufacturers and that governmental support is vital for a sustainable automotive business in Russia. For 2021 we do not expect significant changes and forecast a market growth of 2,1%, which is only 33 000 more new passenger cars and LCVs, a total of 1 632 000 cars,” Thomas Staertzel, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, commented.
Lada remained the leader of the Russian car market in December with its sales up 14.2% year-on-year to 40.8 thousand units.
KIA continues to rate the second with its sales amounting to 20 thousand cars, up 11.2% year-on-year.
Hyundai remains the third with its sales grow by 11.4% year-on-year to 16.4 thousand cars.
Renault ranked the fourth, its sales dropped by 24.1% year-on-year down to 12.1 thousand units.
Volkswagen and Škoda again changed places in the ranking with Škoda moving up to the fifth position, its sales growing by 5.8% to 9.7 thousand units.
Among the car brands that demonstrated the most spectacular growth in December were Chrysler (up 8-fold), Opel (up 7.3-fold), Chery (up 2.5-fold), oton commercial vehicels (up 2.1-fold), and Brilliance (up 2-fold).
The brands that saw their sales decline the most were Chevrolet (-98%), DFM (-68%), Jeep (-62%) и Genesis (-57%).