Russian New-Car Sales Slide Decelerates in October
Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the Association of European Businesses Automobile Manufacturers Committee, says the government incentives that bolstered October sales must remain in place if sales are to stabilize.
The lengthy decline in Russian new-vehicle sales slows to just 2.6% in October.
The Association of European Businesses Automobile Manufacturers Committee data shows the 126,658 units sold for the month left the country’s year-to-date total down 13.3% at 1,147,670.
But committee Chairman Joerg Schreiber says the October result saw only a moderate dip against prior-year and bested the September result by a small margin.
“This is not a bad result, confirming our earlier voiced expectation that the new-car registration trend should improve towards year-end,” Schreiber says in a statement.
“Seasonality is a factor, of course, but the main driver here are the government programs offering purchase incentives.”
However, he says these programs are expiring.
“What awaits us in 2017 remains to be seen,” Schneider says. “But it is clear already that, without meaningful support from the government, any trend stabilization would be very short-lived.”
Lada led the October result, rising 13% to 23,307 units, ahead of Kia, up 4% at 15,015, and Hyundai, up 45 units at 14,190.
After 10 months, Lada was down 5% with 213,159 deliveries but was well ahead of Kia, down 9% at 121,723, and Hyundai, off 14% at 115,428.
Ford was unable to return to positive territory in October, falling 8% to 3,638 units for a 10-month total down 13% at 34,569. U.S. rival Chevrolet tumbled 30% to 2,440 units and down 43% year-to-date at 24,503.
Kia’s Rio was Russia’s top-selling model in October, dropping 70 units year-on-year to 8,947. The previous pacesetting Hyundai Solaris dropped 21.4% to 7,477 units, ahead of Lada’s Granta, down 36.8% at 6,815.
The Solaris remained the sales leader through 10 months despite a 22.1% drop from like-2015 to 74,079. The Rio followed, down 11.7% at 71,225 units, ahead of the Granta, off 29.3% at 70,437.
The best-selling American entry, Chevrolet’s Niva, was 14th on the sales chart, off 21.7% in October to 2,381 units, but remained the eighth-best seller year-to-date, down 5.1% at 24,063.
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