? Russian new car market almost halves, down 49.8% in 2009, to 1.36 million units
? Kia only volume brand improving through a difficult year
? Lada remains top brand, but sales down by 44.7%
Russian new car buyers stayed away from showrooms in large numbers during 2009, with sales volumes almost halving in 2009, according to the latest market analysis from the world’s leading provider of automotive data and intelligence, JATO Dynamics.
In line with sales forecasts, which suggested less than 1.5 million sales, every new car segment shrank over the year, with the top five brands – Lada, Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai and Renault – all losing ground vs. their 2008 sales.
Kia was the only high volume brand to show any improvement, increasing sales in most car sectors through its Rio, Sportage, Cerato, Carens, Picanto, Magentis, and new Soul models and posting a small second half sales gain in 2009.
Evangelos Hadjistavrou, Regional General Manager, JATO Dynamics, said: “The situation in Russia is very serious, perhaps the worst in any major market. The market dropped by over 1.3 million vehicles last year, in contrast to the growth of recent times. The most interesting part is these losses could have been even greater, but for action by the Russian government.”
Over the year, Russian authorities increased support loans to customers of any new Russian-built cars costing less than 600,000 RUR (EUR 13,500; ?11,700). A further scrappage incentive has been announced for 2010, of 50,000 RUR (EUR 1,125; ?975), in an attempt to arrest the decline.
Brand Performance
Despite these domestic-product incentives, Kia was the only high-volume brand showing any improvement, with a 3.4% overall rise in the second half of the year, very much against the general trend.
Lada remained the strongest brand in sales volumes, taking 26% total market share.
Through 2009, import brands in Russia have also had to face an average 5% increase on Russian customs duties, together with a 35% increase in the Euro/Rouble exchange rate, pushing up retail prices and undoubtedly affecting sales.
Model Performance
Lada claimed four of the top five models in 2009 and still sold three times more than its nearest rival, Chevrolet, despite a 44.7% drop in sales.
This weakening demand has led the Lada Kalina to be only just ahead of the Renault Logan and Ford Focus by year-end.
However, the Lada 4×4 gave the company more positive news, being the only top 10 model to increase its sales (26,726 units; +9.8% vs. 2008).
Segment Trends
By the end of 2009, the previous popularity of large SUVs that had sustained this segment had dissipated, with all high-volume segments suffering steep sales declines, greater than 40%.
The large MPV segment suffered most, down 61.8% in the year to December 2009, mainly because no new models were launched in this segment through the year, to offset the declines of existing models.
Elsewhere, new model launches, such as Nissan Qashqai, Volkswagen Passatt CC, Mercedes CLC and locally-produced GAZ Siber bolstered their overall segment performances.
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The above data is provided by JATO Consult, the company’s bespoke consulting service which offers customers access to its unique data and provides solutions and advice to meet a wide range of automotive business challenges. For more information visit www.jato.com or email consult@jato.com.
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