Russian Market Stays Cold in July as Sales Drop 8%

Russian new-vehicle sales continued their slow decline in July, falling 8% to 234,549 units, but the industry sees hope the market will warm up ahead of the looming winter chill.

The Association of European Businesses Automobile Manufacturers Committee says the drop of 21,357 units from like-2012 left the year-to-date result down 6% to 1,567,892.

Committee Chairman Joerg Schreiber says market momentum has not been good in recent months and July brought no fundamental change to that.

“There are indications, however, that the rate of decline has reached its peak in the second quarter, and that we can expect a gradual improvement to the point of stabilization in the coming months,” Schreiber says. “The recently announced government program in support of           retail-financed car purchases will be helpful in reaching this point sooner rather than later.”

Lada continued to lead the market despite July sales falling 20% to 37,549 units. Renault followed, gaining 8% to 18,013, ahead of Kia, down 100 to 17,099.

Year-to-date, the order was the same, with Lada slipping 11% to 262,278 units, ahead of Renault, rising 9% to 122,646 and Kia up 4% to 111,969.

The AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan alliance saw July deliveries drop 8% in July to 234,569 units. Volkswagen Group followed, retreating 10% to 24,744, ahead of General Motors, slumping 21% to 22,152.

Year-to-date, AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan sales were down 8% to 467,327 units. VW was off 4% to 172,672 and GM backtracked 13% to 142,740.

Lada’s Granta remained Russia’s best-selling model, with July deliveries jumping 57% to 14,542 units for a 7-month result up 82% to 98,783. Hyundai’s Solaris saw a 1% uptick to 9,484 and  year-to-date deliveries down 1% to 66,493. Third-place Kia’s New Rio slipped 2% for the month to 7,651, but sales through the first seven months rose 4% to 51,887.

The Ford Focus was in seventh place with July deliveries tumbling 25% to 5,749 units for year-to-date volume of 39,813, down 24%. The Chevrolet Cruze took sixth place as sales improved 3% to 6,644, and an 11% decline on the year to 35,319.