The Russian car market grew for the first time in five years

Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in 2017, according to the Association of European Businesses (AEB), increased by 11.9% (by 170 thousand units) to 1.59 million. What will happen to the market in 2018, no one knows , for the first time in history, even the AEB. But car prices have already begun to rise.

• At the same time, for the first time in history, the AEB did not give a forecast of the dynamics of the Russian car market for 2018. Uncertainty is associated with a possible increase of 87%-125% of the recycling fee, which may cause additional price increases.
• The most popular brands are still Lada (311 thousand cars sold), KIA and Hyundai, and KIA Rio (96.5 thousand cars sold) overtook Lada Granta compared to 2016 and became the most popular model. Thus, the share of Lada in the Russian market increased to 20.5% compared to 19.6% in 2016. This year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade promises to increase production growth in the automotive industry by another 10%.
• However, cars will rise in price in any case - due to an increase in excise taxes, primarily for cars with a capacity of more than 200 hp. Since the beginning of 2018, car prices have already increased by 1.5% -3%, and for some brands like Mercedes - by 5% . Dealers predict price growth during the year by 13% -17%, analysts - by 10%.
• By the way, do not forget that due to excise taxes, more money will have to be left at gas stations - gasoline will break through the mark of 40 rubles per liter.

What do I get from this?

Even if the AEB does not understand what will happen to prices this year and because of this does not give a forecast for 2018, it means that if you have a plan to buy a car, you should definitely do it now.

Artem Gubenko, The Bell