Data released by the Moscow-based AEB says that sales of new passenger cars and LCVs in Russia decreased by 47% year-on-year to 135,446 units in March.
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Sales for the first quarter were put at 387,843 units, 40% down on last year.
“The first quarter of this year showed a continuous and accelerating decline in the car sales in Russia if compared with the same period last year. The reasons behind such dramatic decrease remain the same as we’ve already mentioned earlier this year: the restricted availability of credit, high loan interest rate, rouble devaluation and increased customs tariffs, which consequently caused the price increases introduced recently by many brands,” said David Thomas, AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee’s Chairman.
Announcing a lowering of the 2009 sales forecast to 1.7m units, Martin Jahn, Vice Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said that the Russian government needs to do more to help the industry.
“While the government has announced some measures to stimulate demand, these should be extended to provide Russian customers with a broader choice of models including all those manufactured in Russia. Further measures to generate demand are also necessary,” he said.
The data showed AvtoVAZ/Lada as market leader with sales of 88,720 units in Q1. Chevrolet (30,286 units) and Ford (29,956 units) placed second and third highest.
The top three selling models were Ladas – Priora (23,977 units), Samara (23,449 units) and the 2105/2107 (19,162 units). Ford’s locally assembled Focus came in fourth with 17,742 units and firts quarter sales just 4% down on the same period of last year.
