Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in Russia in November increased by 15% to 152,259 units. The Association of European Businesses (AEB) announced this on Friday.

“Cumulative sales over the past 11 months have added 12% compared to the same period in 2016. It would be appropriate to remember that exactly a year ago we were still cumulatively minus 12%. This is quite tangible progress in a short time,” comments the Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, Jörg Schreiber (his words are quoted in the AEB message). The Russian market has been growing for nine months in a row. At the end of 2017, AEB forecasts sales at the level of 2015, i.e. 1.6 million units. In this case, market growth will be 12%.

Among the 10 most popular brands, sales rose for almost all except Hyundai, which fell 3%. Kio Rio held first place among models. Lada Vesta came in second place. For the first time, this model became the best-selling car in the AvtoVAZ model range (see graph). With a result of 8066 cars, it overtook Granta and came close to Kia Rio. Vesta is younger than Granta - it has been produced since the fall of 2015 at the Izhevsk automobile plant of the AvtoVAZ group . But it is also more expensive: prices for the new car (sedan) start from 554,900 rubles, and Granta – from 389,900 rubles.

The change of leader in the Lada model range is associated with the autumn addition to the Vesta family with two modifications - Vesta SW and Vesta SW Cross, explains an AvtoVAZ representative. He did not disclose how many new products have already been sold and what the plan is for 2018. The decrease in demand for Granta also had an effect, adds a top manager of one of the AvtoVAZ dealer companies. In November, the model’s sales in Russia fell by 12%, according to AEB. So Vesta can retain first place in the Lada model range, the dealer believes. “It all depends on demand. We are interested in growing sales of all our models,” noted an AvtoVAZ representative. To expand the production of Vesta family models, AvtoVAZ will move this winter from Izhevsk the production of Lada Granta in the liftback body to Tolyatti, where Granta sedans are produced (they provide the majority of sales of this family), says a source close to the company. The representative does not comment on this.

A month earlier in Russia, the flagship model of one of Lada’s main competitors, the Korean Hyundai, also changed. The compact crossover Creta has overtaken the Solaris in sales. He retained his leadership in November. Both models are produced at the St. Petersburg plant Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus. Sales of Creta began in August 2016. And already in the first month of sales, the new crossover entered the top 10 best-selling cars in Russia. The change in leader is primarily due to the seasonal surge in demand for crossovers, says a company representative. Top managers of two Hyundai dealerships say that the main reason is the shortage of Solaris in the most popular trim levels. The queues last up to a month, one of them clarifies. The company plans to eliminate the shortage in the coming months, according to a spokesman. In addition to Solaris, some Creta trim levels were also in short supply in November, Alexander Zinoviev, deputy chairman of the board of Avtospetstsentr Group of Companies, told Vedomosti. All this was one of the reasons for the decline in overall sales of the brand in November, he believes. According to him, the release of the updated Kia Rio to the market in the summer of 2017 also had an impact. The new product took away part of the demand from Solaris, including in November, another dealer agrees. In 2018, Hyundai wants to sell about 175,000 cars in Russia (160,000 in 2017), sales of Creta and Solaris are expected to be at the same level, says a company representative.

Anastasia Korotkova participated in the preparation of the article

Vesta has become the most popular at AvtoVAZ