Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) in Russia in December fell by 19.9% compared to the same period last year, to 133.5 thousand units, according to the Association of European Businesses. At the end of November 2021, the Russian market also contracted by 20.4%, a fall in this indicator has been recorded for the sixth month in a row, starting in July last year.
At the same time, sales of passenger cars and LCVs in the Russian Federation in 2021 increased by 4.3% compared to the level of 2020, to 1.67 million units. According to Thomas Stärzel, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, the positive indicators for 2021 are due to the dynamics of growth in the II quarter compared to the same period last year, which was strongly influenced by the lockdown.
“The negative trend of the last two quarters of 2021 ended with a huge 19.9% decline in December, when only 133,470 vehicles were sold. All this is the result of the negative impact on the market of global factors, such as a shortage of electronic components, problems with logistics, a break in supply chains, an increase in the cost of materials, etc. There are no signs of an imminent improvement in the situation, ”Stärzel said.
The AEB predicts that all negative factors will not be eliminated during the main part of 2022, and sales growth in the coming year will amount to 3.3%, to 1,722,000 cars and light commercial vehicles.
According to preliminary data presented on January 12 by the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, in 2021 new car sales in Russia increased by 6% to 1.8 million units. The volume of car production in Russia increased by 10% to 1.5 million units. In turn, AvtoVAZ presented its own assessment of the car market. According to the concern, the entire market of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) in Russia in 2021 grew by 5% to 1.68 million vehicles.
At the end of December 2021, Denis Manturov reported that in 2022 the shortage of cars is expected to continue due to the global shortage of electronic components.
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