Russian car sales increase 9.4% in March, results in positive 2017 Q1
The 137,894 new cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) sold in Russia in March 2017 represented a increase of 11,900 units, or 9.4% compared to the same month in 2016 according to the Association of European Business (AEB) Automobile Manufacturers Committee on April 10.
The 322,464 new cars and LCVs sold in the first three months of 2017 represented an increase of 1% over the same period in 2016, resulting in the first positive quarter in four years.
Among the four largest OEM retailers in Russia in March 2017, Lada sales were up 13% to 25,110 units, Hyundai sales were up 29% to 14,219 units, Kia sales were up 18% to 14,614 units, and Renault sales were up 19% to 11,274 units.
The ten bestselling models sold in March were the Kia Rio, Lada Granta, Hyundai Solaris, Lada Vesta, Hyundai Creta, VW Polo, Toyota RAV4, Renault Duster, Toyota Camry, and Lada X-Ray.
Among the ten bestselling models, all models are locally produced.
Joerg Schreiber, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee said, “Finally, the sales trend on the Russian car market is moving in the right direction. Year-on-year, the 9% improvement in March was big enough to compensate the smaller losses in January-February, turning the cumulative sales result of the first quarter into a slight plus. This is great news for our market which had not seen a positive quarter in more than 4 years.”