12 May 2010 18:16

New car, LCV sales in Russia down 13% in 4 mths, up 20% in April

MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - Sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia fell 13% year-on-year in January-April to 456,179 units, the Association of European Businesses said.

However sales rose in April for the first time since October 2008, by 20% to 163,299 vehicles.

Automobile sales in Russia in January-April 2008 totaled 938,942 units, including 291,000 in April that year.

The 25 best selling models in April this year were the Lada Priora (14,541), Samara (12,492), 2105/2107 (10,533) and Kalina (9,962), all made by Avtovaz . The Renault Logan fell from third to fifth place with 6,223 units, possibly due to undersupply, and the Ford Focus held onto sixth spot with 5,952 units sold.

Lada 4x4 sales soared 1.9-fold in April to 4,858 units. They rose 76% in the four months to 13,460.

Chevrolet Niva sales rose 87% in April to 3,544 units, keeping this ranked eighth.

Strong sales growth was also seen for the Kia Rio (+822%, 6,557 units), Kia Sportage (150%, 1,756 units), Suzuki Grand Vitara (+94%, 1,277 units), Toyota Camry (+62%, 1,726 units), Skoda Octavia (+79%, 1,720 units) and Peugeot 308 (+33%, 882 units).

April was the first full month of the car scrappage scheme in Russia, which the AEB said had an impact on the market, particularly in the low-end segment. However sales of models not participating in the scrappage scheme were also up.

However there was some volatility in year-on-year sales for various makes, and it is still too soon to talk about a robust growth tendency, the AEB said.