AEB: Russian car, LCV sales rise 4% to 162,321 units in Mar

MOSCOW, Mar 5 (PRIME) -- Russia’s sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) rose 4% on the year to 162,321 vehicles in March, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said on Wednesday.

In January–March, sales of cars and LCVs increased 1.8% to 398,518 units.

“March was a strong month with unexpected sales increase of 4% compared to the same month last year, resulting in a 1.8% growth for the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Many brands enjoyed even double digit growth in March,” AEB said quoting Thomas Staertzel, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee.

“This strong start of the year unfortunately does not represent a growth trend, but is rather linked to artificially high anticipated sales in March, resulting from the weakening currency.”

“Since end of March car sales and dealer operations have been sharply interrupted, following the measures related to the situation with COVID-19. The AEB appealed to the government proposing state support measures for the automotive industry. Many manufacturers are also developing comprehensive support measures for their dealers to sustain future business operations.”

Sales of Russia’s largest carmaker AvtoVAZ fell 3% on the year to 32,800 cars in March and decreased 3% to 79,600 units in January–March.

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