Auto sales in Russia are expected to fall up to 20 percent this year as economic growth slows, said AvtoVAZ CEO Bo Andersson. Russia’s car market ended 2013 with a 6 percent drop, according to the Association of European Businesses in Moscow.
In an interview at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Bo Andersson said the next two years will be “tough” for the Russian market. The manager mentioned that AvtoVAZ’s sales will fall less than the industry, by 10 percent to 15 percent, allowing the carmaker to increase market share to 20 percent in 2016 from 17 percent now. AvtoVAZ, the maker of Lada automobiles, is controlled by the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
Andersson said the decline of Russia’s car market has nothing to do with the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on companies, officials and businessmen close to President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
In the first four months of this year, AvtoVAZ sales fell 15 percent to 128,633 units compared with the same period last year. Overall, the Russian car market dropped 4 percent to 827,046 units in the same period.
Last year, AvtoVAZ’s sales fell 7 percent, inflicting a loss of 7.7 billion rubles ($225 million) compared with a net income of 29.1 billion rubles in 2012.
Note: Lada Granta pictured
By Dan Mihalascu
Story References: Bloomberg via Autonews
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