Dealers are breathing again in Russia. The local automotive market, still led by Lada, a subsidiary of Renault, recorded last year a volume of 1.59 million new registered vehicles, an increase of 11.9% compared to 2016. Phenomenon attributable in particular to the bottom current level of inflation and the stability of the ruble, which gives some confidence to the future of consumers.
Admittedly, we are still very far from the peak of 2012, when the market was close to the record 3 million units sold, prompting major manufacturers to invest in new industrial capacity. But in this country where a period of stable sales is completely unknown, Russian and foreign brands are happy to finally be in the right direction. Ending with a gain of 14%, December marked the tenth month of growth in a row, according to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) which compiles these commercial data.
Double-digit growth
Without reaching its historical levels in terms of market shareLada is still leading the race in volume with an annual sales growth of 17%, thanks to new sedan models such as Granta or Vesta. The next two are the Korean Hyundai (+ 9%) and the Renault brand (+ 17%). Faced with the endemic losses of AvtoVAZ, the producer of Lada, the French group had to resolve at the end of 2016 to subscribe to a capital increase to plug the holes, thereby taking control of its expensive ally. With much better business prospects now, the CEO group Carlos Ghosn is now considering the profitability of AvtoVAZ in the medium term and plans to double Lada sales by 2022.
While some manufacturers such as Opel and GM have retired from Russia during the market plunge, others have remained and now welcome double-digit growth: Volkswagen (+ 21%), Ford (+ 18%) ), Mitsubishi (+ 45%), Peugeot (+ 37%) or Honda (+ 39%) are among them.
For the year 2018, the AEB is unable to make a market forecast, due to the current uncertainty about a projected increase in the tax on imported cars. Nevertheless, the IHS Markit Institute is projecting 1.85 million new vehicles sold this year, in agreement with Renault-Nissan which is banking on a market of 1.8 million units.