The first part of the Russian government’s ‘cash for clunkers’ scrappage scheme has now finished with the budgeted allocation of funds used up, according to the government.
Alexei Rakhmanov, head of the Industry and Trade Ministry’s automobile industry department, said that the government has issued the planned 200,000 certificates for bonuses worth 50,000 roubles to buy new Russian-made cars in exchange for recycling old cars.
As expected, the scheme has benefited local producers.
Some 161,354 certificates were issued for the purchase of AvtoVAZ cars and 10,722 certificates were used to buy Renault cars, Rakhmanov said. Ford models ranked third in terms of the number of issued certificates.
Slightly more than 81,000 cars have been sold using the certificates, Rakhmanov said.
The second stage for the scrappage scheme, at which the government plans to offer the next 200,000 certificates, is expected to start this week, Rakhmanov said.

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By GlobalDataJD Power Automotive Forecasting predicts that the Russian car market will reach 1.59m units this year – around 17% up on last year – as result of the scrappage scheme boost and a gradually improving economic environment. Most of the second tranche of scrappage certificate sales are expected to be made this year.