In Russia, Mercedes-Benz has managed to outsell the Russian giant AvtoVaz. In an uphill struggle for the Russian buyer, Germany’s carmaker beat the national company. So now the top three looks as follows: Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and Lada.
According to Russia’s Autostat analytical agency, the following companies in decreasing order received 64% of total Russian car sales in the period January to August 2014: Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Lada, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Renault, BMW, and Mitsubishi.
It is noteworthy that AvtoVaz has been consistently popular among Russian car owners, but after Lada reported lower-than-expected profits, the company slipped to the third place, losing ground to Mercedes-Benz.
“An average price of a new car has become close to the mark of one million rubles,” Sergey Udalov, Autostat executive director said. Last year, an average car price in Russia was 866,000 rubles; in 2012 it was 835,000 rubles. Overall, the Russians bought 1.5 trillion rubles worth of new cars. Meanwhile, analysts marked a 12.1% fall in the market during this period in terms of quantity.
Association of European Businesses recorded a 32.3% drop in AvtoVaz sales compared with August 2013. The association revised its forecast on sales on the Russian car market. The previous outlook suggested a 5% fall in sales in 2014, while now a 12% decrease is projected.
