Russian automotive market: ‘Lada don’t live up to the expectations as well as Vesta, but…’
While the country is in crisis, sales of Lexus, Datsun and Porsche are increasing, and AvtoVAZ is losing its demand
The Association of European Businesses's Automobile Manufacturers Committee published the statistics of car sales in Russia for the last year. According to the data of AEB, in 2015, sales of new light motor and light commercial cars in Russia decreased by 35,7%, that is to say, by 890,187 articles, compared to 2014. Last year there were sold 1,601,216 cars in total. December was the worst month for the automotive market. The fall in comparison with December 2014 was almost double – by 45,7% or 123,682 units (146,963 cars sold). Realnoe Vremya inquired some participants of the market of Tatarstan.
Lada loses popularity but it is still the leader
The production of AvtoVAZ (Tolyatti) was the most saleable in 2015. Last year 269,000 Lada vehicles were sold in Russia. However, the drop for a year made 31%. It allowed the closer pursuer, the Korean KIA, to approach the leader (163,000). Sales of KIA reduced by only 16%. There is another Korean that goes with KIA head-to-head – Hyundai. This producer demonstrated a less fall (10%) and sold almost the same quantity of cars (161,000).
These above-mentioned car manufacturers are followed by vehicle producers with a significate annual decline like Renault (-38%, 120,000 cars sold), Toyota (-39%, sales reduced to 98,000 cars).
According to the AEB, only five brands were at an advantage: Lexus (6% growth, 20,000 cars), Datsun (even 178%, over 31,000) that entered the market only 2 years ago. Porsche showed a considerable growth – 12% (in 2015 it sold 600 cars more, compared to 2014 – 5290). Chinese Brilliance also achieved a growth by a quarter – to 1,200 cars, and Smart, which is a part of the German holding Daimler AG, reached 28% growth. Although the end result of small passenger cars is still not big – only 471 cars. UAZ practically doesn't have a reduction (-2%), while other car brands' fall in sales made 10%.
Gone GM brands and lost Ukrainian cars
The worst decrease was shown by the gone from the Russian market brands of GM: Opel (-74%, reduction from 65,000 to 17,000 cars) and Chevrolet (-60%, from 123,000 to 50,000 cars). The American producer of off-road vehicles and crossovers Jeep (-75%, to 2,000 cars), Japanese Honda (-78%, to 4,000 cars), Korean SsangYong (-79%, to 5,000 cars), Chinese Great Wall (-79%, to 3,000 cars).
The Spanish SEAT, which earlier was not very popular too, was the leader in reduction. The sales indicators of the manufacturer decreased by 97% — from 1641 to 47 cars. Besides, Chinese FAW and BYD (in 2014 from 2164 to 5 cars), the Ukrainian ZAZ and Bogdan (in 2014 from 481 to 92 cars), Taiwanese Luxgen, Russian TagAz and Izh sold no car.
From Granta to Rio
Last year's top of the popular makes of cars practically did not change. The majority of the population of Russia still chooses Lada Granta. 120,000 cars were bought for a year, but it is 32,000 cars less than in 2014.
Following these brands closely, Hyundai Solaris and KIA Rio still take their second and third places. Unlike Granta, 'the Koreans' even increased their sales. The budget sedan from Hyundai approached Granta – one year ago the difference was almost 40,000 cars. In comparison with the previous year, the Russians bought 1,000 cars of Hyundai Solaris more. KIA Rio, in turn, demonstrated a greater growth – by 3,500 cars (to 97,000 cars).
The fourth and fifth places go to Volkswagen Polo and Renault Duster. However, both makes have reduced their indicators. If last year Renault Duster took the fourth place and sold 76,000 cars, this year the result dropped to 44,000. Volkswagen Polo was in the sixth position and sold 59,000 cars, this year it fell to 45,000. Having reduced its indicators from 60,000 to 41,000 cars, Renault Logan lost its fifth place.
It should be noted that aside from Hyundai Solaris и KIA Rio, budget Skoda Rapid и Datsun on-DO also demonstrated growth. Their sales increased from 20,000 to 25,000 and from 11,000 to 24,000 respectively.