MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Alexander Yurov)
Over 565,000 cars have been imported to Russia to date, according to the Federal Customs Service. These statistics do not apply to foreign cars assembled in Russia under the government's industrial assembly program. Nor do the customs have figures for the whole of 2006 yet. But since Russians traditionally make most of their purchases in the last months of the year, it is already clear that 2006 will beat records for foreign car sales.
The Russian automobile market has been among the fastest growing in the world for several years now, and foreign manufacturers have reported record highs for the second year running. As many as 440,000 foreign cars were sold last year. This year, according to president of Ford Motor Company in Russia and the CIS Henrik Nenzen, the figure will reach 850,000. In other words, Russia will sell more foreign cars than domestic ones, with the market growing by almost 50%.
Such forecasts are not taken out of thin air. According to figures released by the Association of European Business in Russia, sales went up to 685,759 cars in the first nine months of 2006. Compared with last year, growth is 58%. This is the overall figure, and individual brands have had even more impressive results. Growth has been posted not only in the budget car segment. Over the reported period, for example, sales of Mercedes-Benz vans have risen by 348% and of the Porsche by 225%. Lexus prestige cars have doubled their sales. Quantitatively, though, their sale statistics do not look as stunning as Renault sales, for example. With comparable growth figures - Renault cars have climbed 197% - their actual sales were ten times higher. Nearly 40,000 cars of the French manufacturer have found their owners in Russia. Sales of the Korean KIA have advanced noticeably - a rise of 177%. In the first nine months of 2006, KIA sold over 33,000 cars. The same is true of Citroen, which has doubled its sales in Russia.
Russia now has a new sales leader. The front-runner is Chevrolet, which has squeezed out Korean Hyundai. In the first nine months of the year, Chevrolet sales hit the 77,000 mark, or an increase of 63% on last year. Hyundai sales have not grown since last year, although they are running at a sufficiently high level of more than 69,000 cars. Ford, on the other hand, boosted its sales appreciably. Between January and October, it sold more than 68,000 units, posting a sales growth of 83%. The Ford Focus has proved to be the most popular foreign model in this period. So, two American makes today are among three Russian market leaders.
Curiously, despite such a massive rise in foreign car sales, demand remains high, as evidenced by long waiting lists of potential buyers. Russians still have to wait for two months or longer to buy even standard makes of cars.
However, even the present rocketing figures for foreign car sales in Russia look dull against the glittering performance put up by AvtoVAZ, a major player on the Russian car market. For several years now this company has been selling around 700,000 cars a year and is expecting a 3% rise in sales this year. A total of 840,000 cars assembled in Russia are likely to be sold altogether.
And yet there is no denying the success of foreign car manufacturers in Russia. For the first time in many years, they are expected to sell more cars than domestic firms.
