Russia Sales Forecast Revised Downward After Disappointing June
Buyers scooped up a smaller number of new vehicles in June than in the much smaller Australian market, leaving analysts even more pessimistic about the remainder of 2016.
Russian new-vehicle sales continue to fall at a faster-than-expected rate, dropping 12.5% year-on-year in June to 122,633 units and forcing a cut in full-year forecasts.
The Association of European Businesses Automobile Manufacturers Committee says this result – less than the June total in the much smaller Australian market – left first-half volume down 14.1% at 672,140 units.
Committee Chairman Joerg Schreiber says June sales did nothing to improve the first-half total.
“Total market volume continued to erode at a double-digit pace, faster than anticipated at the beginning of the year,” Schreiber says in a statement.
With this in mind, the AEB is lowering its 2016 full-year outlook to 1.44 million units, a 10.3% reduction from 2015. Previous forecasts called for a 5% slide from 2015 results.
But to hit the lowered mark will require some improvement.
“This forecast implies a slowdown of the negative trend in the second half of 2016, to a level of 6%-7%, or half of what we have seen so far this year,” Schreiber says.
Lada led first-half sales, though volume was off 12% to 124,353 units. Its June tally fell 16% to 22,229.
Moving up to second place in the rankings was Kia, which overtook Hyundai and finished the first half down 8% to 69,766, following a June performance also off 8% at 12,780 units.
Hyundai’s 6-month result slid 19% to 64,334 despite a better June, down just 2% to 12,001 vehicles.
The AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan alliance continued to dominate the market with first-half sales off 17.3% to 223,218. Its delivered 40,269 units in June, a 17.8% drop from year-ago.
The VW Group fell 7.0% in the first half to 74,229, with June sales rising 2.0% to 13,764 units.
As expected, General Motors’ first-half result was dismal, down 52.2% to just 15,382 units. June sales slid 53.0% to 3,021.
Hyundai’s Solaris was Russia’s top-selling model for June and the first half. Its 6-month deliveries fell 14.5% to 45,930 units on the heels of a 6.2% drop in June to 8,676.
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