Double-Digit Drop Doesn’t Dim Russian Rebound Hopes

Spring is just over the horizon in Russia and the car industry is hoping it will grow sales in a market too long in the mire.

The fall in new-vehicle sales eased in February, dropping just 13.4% year-on-year to 111,145 units, data from the Automobile Manufacturers Committee of the Association of European Businesses shows.

After two months, year-to-date sales were off 20.8% at 193,072 units.

Committee Chairman Joerg Schreiber is optimistic spring will see the industry begin to recover after the notoriously bleak Russian winters. Schreiber sees the rate of the sales decline slowing visibly with the February drop the smallest in 14 months.

“This is an expected and welcome development, much of it being attributable to the low volume base of last year,” he says in a statement. “Now spring season is approaching, and this is usually good news for car sales. So the coming weeks will show in what shape consumer demand really is these days.”

Lada still was feeling the winter gloom in February with sales off 19% at 19,003 units, but the result was good enough to keep the local brand at the top of the table. Kia moved into second place, down just 9% at 11,492 units, dropping Hyundai into third on a 21% tumble to 10,510.

After two months, Lada was down 16% at 34,612 units, with Kia off 14% at 20,541 and Hyundai down 29% at 18,520.

The winter ice remained thin for Ford as sales collapsed 144% to just 3,418 units for a 2-month total down 77% at 5,676. Chevrolet was off 25% at 2,443 units in February and down 42% after the first two months at 3,644.

The AvtoVAZ-Renault-Nissan Alliance, which includes Lada, continued to dominate the market with February sales down 18.3% at 37,203 units. Its 2-month result was down 24.8% at 63,587 units.

Its nearest rival, Volkswagen Group, was off 18.3% in February to 11,638 units with the year-to-date tally down 24.2% at 20,877.

The GM group fell 39.7% to 2,533 units as its felt the effects of last year’s termination of Opel sales in the country. Its 2-month total was off 54.8% at 3,782 units.

Hyundai’s Solaris remained the top-selling model, defying the winter slump and rising 1.6% or 129 units to 8,130 units. Kia’s Rio soared 15.8% to 7,017 units, but the Lada Granta sank 39.9% year-over-year to 6,335.

After two months, Solaris was down 15.2% at 13,756; Granta off 24.9% at 13,712; and Rio down 5.9% at 10,670.

Chevrolet’s Niva held ninth place as its February sales dropped 16 units to 2,410. That gave it a 2-month total off 18.2% at 3,592 units.

No Ford vehicles made last month’s top-20 sales list.