Since the beginning of the year, sales of Lada Vesta have almost tripled: 4.6 thousand cars were sold in March compared to 1.6 thousand in January. The success of AvtoVAZ's new product was facilitated by rising prices for Solaris and Rio

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In March, sales of AvtoVAZ's new Lada Vesta amounted to 4.6 thousand cars, according to preliminary statistics from the Association of European Businesses (AEB, RBC has the document). A representative of the Togliatti plant confirmed this figure.

Vesta sales in March were 55% more than in February and almost three times more than in January, when only 1.6 thousand cars were sold. It is not yet possible to compare sales of the model with the same periods last year - it arrived at dealers only at the end of November 2015.

Vesta is AvtoVAZ’s main hope for a break-even future. At the start, the model showed strong sales (about 1 thousand cars were sold in the first day alone), but then the demand for it fell sharply. By the end of 2015, AvtoVAZ managed to sell 2.8 thousand Vestas against the target of 5–6 thousand units.

At the beginning of this year, Vesta sales remained weak, but in March they approached the planned level. In 2016, AvtoVAZ plans to sell 50-60 thousand cars of this model - an average of 4-5 thousand cars per month.

The buyer “tried” the car, Dmitry Polunin, general director of the AutoGermes Group of Companies (Lada dealer), explains the increase in Vesta sales. In addition, he adds, Vesta’s main competitors - Hyundai Solaris and Kia Rio - have risen in price by 30-50 thousand rubles since the beginning of the year. (AvtoVAZ did not change the prices of new models).

The failure of Vesta sales at the end of last year and the beginning of this year was due to a sharp start, when 1 thousand cars were sold in the first day, an AvtoVAZ manager said: this shifted demand. Now it has leveled off.

The second new product from Tolyatti is the Lada XRay crossover, sales of which started in February of this year, and is only gaining momentum. In March, 1.5 thousand SUVs were sold, which is 62% more than the month before. According to Polunin, XRay sales will at least double by summer.

In general, Lada sales decreased in March by 18.6%, to 22.3 thousand units. The entire market over the same period decreased by 15%, to 118.7 thousand units.

The Chinese Geely and Brilliance, as well as the American Ford, were in the black. Sales of the latter increased 2.2 times (4 thousand cars) compared to March last year. A Ford Sollers representative says that in March sales of the Kuga crossover showed record growth and the Explorer's popularity increased significantly.

Car dealerships recorded a sharp increase in Lada Vesta sales