(Adds AEB comment)
MOSCOW, Sept 8 (Reuters) - New car sales in Russia fell 19.4 percent year-on-year in August after a 27.5 percent drop in the previous month, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) lobby group said on Tuesday.
The decline slowed thanks to the recent drop in the value of the rouble against the dollar, which prompted consumers to buy cars before anticipated price increases, the AEB said.
"Currency fluctuations continue to have an enormous impact on day-to-day consumer behaviour and demand for high-value goods like cars," Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said in a statement.
"The latest sharp drop in the value of the rouble is a sure guarantee for the market to see an immediate uplift in sales, only to be followed by a corresponding slump later. So get ready for another ride on the Russian roller coaster!"
August sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles stood at 138,670 cars.
Sales of 1.05 million for the first eight months of the year were down 33.5 percent, the AEB statement said.
The AEB earlier cut its 2015 forecast for new car sales in Russia to 1.55 million, suggesting a 36 percent fall from 2014 levels.
After years of growth in excess of 10 percent, Russian car sales collapsed in 2014 as the economy shrank and the rouble weakened, due to lower oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Mark Heinrich)