Pace of Russian LV Sales Slide Slows in February
An industry official notes both signs of recovery and ‟question marks about the robustness of consumer demand moving into the second quarter of the year.”
Russian new-vehicle sales continued their long decline in February, falling 2% year-on-year, but the industry believes the market is close to returning to a growth cycle.
The Association of European Businesses’ Automobile Manufacturers Committee says the latest fall in deliveries of new cars and light-commercial vehicles, to 206,476 units, lowered the year-to-date total 4% to 359,138.
Committee Chairman Joerg Schreiber says the market performance appears on track to match last year’s results soon.
“Retail activity was better than normal for the season, boosted by consumer concerns about the weakening ruble and resulting price increases on imported vehicles,” he says in a statement.
“The corresponding pull-ahead in customer orders should show positively in March sales, but leaves question marks about the robustness of consumer demand moving into the second quarter of the year.”
Lada continued to lead the way in February despite sales falling 16% to 30,896 units. Its nearest rival, Renault, rose 9% to 16,721 units while Nissan jumped 31% to 17,158.
Chevrolet finished seventh as its deliveries eased 4% to 12,448 units, while Opel was 11th thanks to an 8% drop to 6,610. Ford followed in 12th place with sales retreating 11% to 6,306.
The AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan alliance remained the sales leader despite a 16% fall to 65,608 units in February. The Volkswagen Group slid 6% to 21,849 units and the General Motors group dropped 6% to 19,155.
Through the year’s first two months, Lada results were down 19% to 54,543 units, ahead of Renault, off 1% to 29,615 and Nissan, up 28% to 28,209.
Chevrolet was down 34% to 21,868 units for sixth place, while Opel overtook Ford for 11th place despite a 12% sales decline to 10,891 that was not as sharp as Ford’s 21% tumble to 10,556.
AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan’s 2-month total was down 6% to 113,671 units for a 31.7% share of the Russian market. VW dropped 6% to 37,836 units, ahead of GM, off 6% to 32,936.
Lada’s Granta was the country’s No.1 model last month with 11,820 deliveries, down 8% year-on-year, still comfortably ahead of Hyundai’s Solaris, up 3% to 8,660, and Renault’s Duster, up 26% to 7,541.
Year-to-date, Granta deliveries were down 14% to 19,535 units, Solaris off 1% to 15,607 and Duster up 16% to 13,131.
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