Russian car sales fell for a ninth straight month in November, down 4% year on year to 231,982, the Moscow-based Association of European Businesses said.
In October, sales fell 8%, Reuters noted.
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Sales of new cars in Russia have fallen in 2013 as consumers have refrained from big ticket purchases because of the country’s weak economy.
“No question, the total industry is still declining, albeit at a slower pace,” Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB, said in a statement. Schreiber said a long awaited flattening of year on year sales numbers had yet to happen.
“We hope December will show progress in this direction and deliver a decent close to an otherwise difficult year,” he said.
Schreiber last week forecast that Russian car sales may end the year down 6% but will likely stabilise in 2014. The AEB will publish its official forecast for 2014 in January.
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By GlobalDataAccording to Reuters, Lada remained the best selling brand in the market last month, but sales fell 19% to 36,509 as foreign carmakers made inroads into a market that analysts predict will soon overtake Germany to become the biggest in Europe.
Renault, which along with alliance partner Nissan is seeking to take control of Lada’s parent company AvtoVAZ, continued to increase sales. Renault is the best selling foreign brand in Russia and the No 2 brand after Lada, with sales of 17,721 last month, a rise of 3%.
Deliveries of the automaker’s Duster compact SUV grew 12% last month, making the Duster the third best selling model in November.
Kia and Hyundai were the third and fourth best selling brands last month. Kia sales rose 16% to 17,399 while Hyundai deliveries jumped 6% to 15,539.
General Motors’ Chevrolet brand – to be all but axed from Europe in 2015 but to continue in Russia – remained the fifth seller in Russia last month but sales slid 18% to 13,576. Deliveries by Opel rose 1% to 5,968.
Deliveries at Volkswagen’s core brand dropped 9% last month to 12,852 units.
Sales of premium German brands rose in November led by BMW, which jumped 33% to 4,144. Mercedes-Benz sales rose 17% to 4,011, while Audi sales were up 18% to 3,468.
Sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles declined 6% in the first 11 months to 2.5m, the AEB told Reuters.
