Russia’s vehicle market is growing this year, according to the Moscow-based AEB Automobile Manufacturers’ Committee (a trade body that formerly represented many European brands in Russia).
The AEB said the Russian automobile market grew by 58% in January-September 2024 and by 33% in September 2024.
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The AEB said total sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in September 2024 amounted to 151,491 units.
It also said sales for the first nine months of 2024 exceeded sales for the same period in 2023 by 57.6% and amounted to more than 1.2 million vehicles.
Chairman of the Automobile Manufacturers Committee, Alexey Kalitsev said in a statement: “As the committee expected, sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles kept on growing in September. As forecasted, this is largely due to the expectation of price increases amid changes in disposal fee rates and an increase in the key [interest] rate.
“A record August was followed by a very successful September, which results significantly exceeded last year’s figures.
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By GlobalData“However, despite the success, overall sales in the third quarter did not go beyond the sales volume in the second quarter of this year. This may indicate that we are approaching a limitation of the market’s growth potential due to a decrease in purchasing power and the satisfaction of deferred demand from consumers. Most likely, the positive dynamics will continue in the coming months, butwill not be as rapid.
“The results of 9 months demonstrate that, with a high degree of probability, by the end of 2024 the market will achieve higher figures than the committee forecasted earlier.
“To ensure further market development, government support for demand and local production will be required.”
As European countries exited Russia following Russia’s military operations in Ukraine in 2022 and the subsequent imposition of economic sanctions, Chinese OEMs have effectively replaced them in the Russian market and also started local assembly/manufacturing operations.
Soaring trailer demand
Gary Beecroft, an analyst with UK consultants CLEAR, also estimates that trailer demand has soared in Russia over the past two years. “Russia’s economy has shifted toward buying higher quantities of transport assets,” he says.
“This has included heavy goods trailers. We estimate that overall trailer sales in Russia this year will be approaching 36,000, which compares with 24,000 in 2021, a more normal volume year for the industry.
“And again, the Chinese are filling the gaps left by Western manufacturers who previously exported to Russia – for both trucks and trailers.”
Beecroft says the main HGV trailer producers in Russia are Tonar, Grunwald and Nefaz/Kamaz.
