The contraction of the Russian car market accelerated significantly, stagnation was replaced by a fall: in May, 6.7% fewer cars were sold than a year ago, according to the message of the Association of European Businesses (AEB). Sales fell 2.2% in April, rose slightly in March, and fell 3.6% in February, for the first time after two years of growth.

Quote. “No good news in the automotive market in May, but instead a nearly 7% drop in sales – the biggest drop in 2 years,” said AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee Chairman Jörg Schreiber.

In January-May 2019, 677,570 vehicles were sold, which is 2.2% lower than in 2018 over the same period.
The main reason for the fall is weak demand driven by macroeconomics, higher VAT and the removal of government subsidies for the purchase of cars, according to the AEB.
Of the brands in the top ten of the Russian car market, only Skoda (growth by 17%) and the remaining leaders Lada and KIA (their sales are at last year's level) did not reduce their sales.
Volkswagen and Hyundai fell less than the market. Sales of Nissan fell by 31%, Renault by 13%.
In 2018, the Russian car market grew by 12.8% to 1.8 million units. The AEB forecast for 2019 is still the same – growth by 3.6%.

We wrote more about the trends of the Russian car market here .

&#39;No good news&#39;: car sales collapse

'No good news': car sales collapse