Declining line continued
The Russian car market collapsed like a house of cards in the first half of 2022. In the first six months of this year, almost 60 percent fewer new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Russia than in the same period last year.
The Russian Association of European Businesses (AEB) reports that 27,761 new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Russia in June. That is no less than 82 percent less than in June last year. In June 2021, with 154,553 units, no fewer than 126,792 more cars were sold in Russia than in June this year. In the much smaller Netherlands alone, with around 30,000 units, more cars were sold last month than in the whole of Russia.
Now that the Russian sales figures for June are known, we can also report how many new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Russia in the first half of 2022: 370,228 units. That sounds like a decent number, but it is a whopping 57.5 percent (500,521 copies) less than in the first six months of last year. Side note: the results of BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not included in the June figures released by AEB, but they are in the half-year figures. The decline in sales on a half-year basis appears to be somewhat better than expected in view of the situation in which the Russian industry finds itself. However, do not forget that the Russian invasion of Ukraine only took place at the end of February, so there were no sanctions against Russia in January and February. Several car brands have since shut down their Russian production. The Russian Ministry of Industry indicated in June that it expects car sales to halve this year compared to 2021. If car sales continue to develop until the end of the year as they did between March and June, that still seems an optimistic forecast. .
lada
Lada is still the most popular brand in Russia. In June, AvtoVaz sold 7,484 Ladas, bringing the brand’s total sales this year to 74,714. That is 63 percent less than the 200,218 units sold in the first half of 2021. Kia is the second best-selling brand in Russia after Lada. In the first six months of this year, 45,571 Kias found a Russian owner, 58 percent less than in the same period last year. Hyundai is in third place with 39,3777 cars sold (-56 percent). Renault and Toyota are in fourth and fifth place with 28,246 (-60 percent) and 18,554 (-60 percent) sold cars respectively.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl