MOSCOW. Dec 8 (Interfax) - Sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia increased 28% year-on-year to 1,706,254 in January-November, and 80% year-on-year to 189,902 in November alone, the Association of European Business (AEB) Automobile Manufacturers Committee said.
The AEB said it anticipated the market will continue to grow as 2010 draws to a close, and has adjusted its sales forecast for this year to 1.9 million autos, or 30% more than last year.
"November saw the highest volume for a single month since December 2008 and the market is now tracking towards 1.9 million units for the full year significantly beyond any previous forecasts. This would be a year on year growth of 30%. Clearly the scrappage scheme and improving credit availability have combined with increased consumer confidence to deliver growth across all segments and most brands," said David Thomas, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee.
"While the industry continues on its upward trend, we need to see more recovery in the numbers net of the utilization program before we can say that the crisis is firmly behind us. The signs are encouraging, further economic growth is essential for a sustained recovery that will support demand when the utilization
program ends," said Mark Ovenden, Vice-Chairman of the AEB.
Among the top ten bestselling models of passenger cars so far, nine are produced in Russia.
Avtovaz (RTS: AVAZ) sales rose 45% year-on-year in the 11 months to 467,550 units, including growth of 107% to 49,534 in November. The Lada Priora became the best selling car in November for the first time with 11,753 sold, thanks to the scrappage scheme. Lada sales stimulated by the scrappage scheme had been led by the Lada 2105/2107 Classic since June this year, and 11,737 of these were sold in November.
In the 11 months, Lada Classic sales grew 99% year-on-year to 124,200; Lada Priora - 24% to 113,325; Lada Kalina - 73% to 97,406; and Lada Samara - 11% to 92,653.
Renault Logan sales rose 15% to 56,119.
Lada 4x4 sales grew 68% to 39,646, Daewoo Nexia - 5%% to 39,659 and Chevrolet Niva - 43% to 31,428.
The best selling foreign car in Russia was the Ford Focus with 6,348 sold in November and 58,682 in the 11 months - 24% more than in the same period of last year.
Sales of the Kia Rio, assembled in Kaliningrad, rose 227% to 26,965; Kia Sportage - 60% to 18,859; Suzuki Grand Vitara - 36% to 14,934; Toyota RAV4 - 86% to 14,668; and Skoda Octavia A5 - 88% to 15,604; however Toyota Camry sales fell 2% to 14,654.
Overall sales of Chevrolet cars rose 9% to 103,681 in the 11 months and 93% to 12,298 in November; overall sales by KIA sales rose 55% in the 11 months to 96,545 and 27% to 9,200 in November; Renault sales grew 29% to 85,058 and 58% to 9,900; Hyundai - 16% to 77,679 and 7% to 8,527; Toyota - 2% to 70,789 and 94% to 8,083; Nissan - 13% to 69,291 and 178% to 9,149; Daewoo 44% to 67,508 and 65% to 6,271; VW - 43% to 52,219 and 157% to 6,703; Skoda - 38% to 41,520 and 43% to 3,498; Mitsubishi - 3% to 40,224 and 121% to 5,311; Opel - 9% to 35,341 and 316% to 5,442; Peugeot - 15% to 32,016 and 118% to 3,465; and overall Suzuki sales rose 13% to 25,607 in the 11 months but fell 7% to 2,874 in November.
Cf pr
(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)
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