9:52 am, May 12, 2022
International sanctions and carmakers suspending operations resulted in new car sales plunging to a new record low in Russia, new figures show.
Data released by the Association of European Businesses (AEB) this week reveals Russian car dealers sold just 32,706 cars in April.
That represents a whopping 78.5 per cent decrease on the same month last year.
It’s also the biggest drop since the trade group began reporting Russian new car sales in 2006, said Bloomberg.
The new car figures released by the AEB don’t include BMW, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors due those carmakers changing the frequency of their sales data publication.
However the figures show there were falls right across the board.
Only Chinese-brand Cheryexeed and Isuzu recorded sales increases.
Toyota and Lexus saw fall of 91 per cent and 97 per cent respectively, while Land Rover sales dropped by 93 per cent.
The plummeting sales were partly driven by most carmakers with production facilities in Russia suspending production.
These include Volkswagen, Ford and Mazda, while others halted importing vehicles.
The latest sales data also shows the effect of sanctions on Russia brought about by the war in Ukraine.
It was recently reported by Moscow’s Higher School of Economics that over half of the Russian car industry’s value comes from imports.
