Sad September Song for Russian Light-Vehicle Sales

Russian new-vehicle sales remained deep in the red in September, with deliveries skidding 28.6% to 140,867 units.

The Association of European Businesses Automotive Industry Committee data shows the year-to-date result down 33.0% at 1,192,723 units, and committee Chairman Joerg Schreiber isn’t optimistic about the rest of the year.

“September did not do much to improve the year-to-date performance of the market, or the outlook on the remaining three months of the year,” he says in a statement. “According to a recent poll of our members, the full-year forecast for 2015 remains practically unchanged at a level of 1.57 million sales of (light vehicles), or 37% less compared to 2014.”

Lada remained the big fish in an evaporating pond, with sales off 41% for the month at 21,658 units. Kia narrowed the gap, rising 11% to 16,096, overtaking Hyundai, down 2% at 15,106.

After nine months, Lada was down 28% at 203,462 units with Kia in second place, down 13% to 119,738 and just ahead of Hyundai, down 10% at 119,738.

Ford finished September in eighth place, down just 8% at 4,828 units, but remained in 12th place for the year, off 41% at 26,546.

The AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan alliance slumped 35.7% in September to 41,738 units for a 9-month total off 28.4% at 390,462.

Volkswagen Group sales slid 26.6% last month to 14,495 units. Year-to-date VW deliveries were off 37.8% at 120,270 units.

The General Motors group was off 56.7% in September to 5,670 units for a 9-month total down 60.0% at 55,429. Within this, Chevrolet backslid 48.2% for the month to 4,276 units for a year-to-date result off 55.7% at 39,842. Opel retreated 71.6% to 5,670 units for a 9-month total down 68.6% at 14,910.

Hyundai’s Solaris was the top-selling model for the month, improving 10.0% from like-2014 to 11,006 units, ahead of Kia’s New Rio, jumping 69.5% to 10,822 and longtime market leader Lada Granta, down 49.2% at 8,597.

Year-to-date, though, Granta led the market, down 19.4% at 90,345 units, ahead of the Solaris, up 1.3% at 85,540 and New Rio, up 7.9% at 71,650.