Car dealers expect Russian car market to fall by 40% in Jan–Mar

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (PRIME) – Russia’s sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) willl fall by more than 40% to below 150,000 vehicles in January–March, a representative of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association told PRIME on Tuesday.

“The first quarter sales are preliminarily expected to contract to more than 40%. Assuming the real situation, the market will not rise above 150,000,” the representative said.

“The sharpest decrease is to happen in January, as last year we sold more than 90,000 (cars), while this year one could expect half as many.”

The Association of European Businesses said earlier that sales of new cars and LCVs in Russia shrank by 28% on the year to 277,000 units in January–March 2022. The association also expects the market to grow by 12% to around 770,000 new cars and LCVs in 2023.

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