Sales of new passenger and light commercial cars in Russia increased by 14 percent year-on-year to 1.13 million vehicles in the period January-August 2010, the Association of European Businesses said on Wednesday.

"It is very encouraging to see the continued upward trend for the industry even through the traditional holiday month of August," the association quoted its car-making committee chairman David Thomas as saying in a statement. "There were some concerns that the smog in Moscow might affect the industry, but other than low showroom traffic during what is anyway a quiet month, we have not yet seen evidence of this," he said.

"We also expect to see a very positive effect from the (2010) Moscow International Automobile Salon. The early signs are that strong customer interest in new cars at the show will translate into further sales growth in the last four months of 2010," Thomas said.

MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti)