A fresh look at growing car market in Russia
Friday, January 26th, 2007Russians have dismissed the purchase of an apartment as a dream $ instead are eyeing cars. The market of foreign brands has grown 50% in the first half of 2006. The second hand market is estimated to be three times bigger. The 50% increase means 418,280 brand new machines have hit the streets. More than 100,000 are assembled on joint ventures and foreign plants built on the Russian territory. In addition, 45,699 Daewoo and Lanos were brought over from Uzbekistan and Ukraine respectively. The figures do not include 325,000 Avto VAZ models, Russian leader in the industry, and some 80,000 Volga models of the GAZ Corporation. Of course, the cheap price for Avto VAZ still draws most of the consumers. But the trend is changing. Growing income and frustration about mortgage schemes force people to invest in mobile property of high quality & price. 13% of the population are said to be able to afford expensive products. Furthermore, banks are struggling to keep up with the pace and join dealers to issue winsome loans. Sometimes, you don’t even need the first installment to be able to buy a car. South Korean Hyundai tops the 1st half of 2006 rating, with 47,370 cars sold by Russian dealers. It is a 12% hike on last year’s results. Not a big advantage, and won mainly by Accent, while Elantra is on the wane. The summer might see a new wave of interest following the presentation of the new Elantra and Verna, worth less than $20,000. Trailing behind is Chevrolet, with 44,760 machines, up 47% mainly, due to the Russian breed of Niva. At the same time, the company has seen increasing demand for Chevrolet DAT series, including Aveo and Lacetti. The latter has a good price as far station wagons go.
Toyota with 40,839 cars ranks third with its hits Corolla &Yaris. They are not the cheapest in this group, but enjoy an ever lasting love with Russians for reliability and simplicity.
Toyota has earned the fame with its second-hand right-wheel cars brought to the russian Far East straight from Japan.Ford, a potential leader awith 36,826 cars sold, has encountered some problems.
It came up with such an attractive offer that the dealers were simply besieged with people willing to buy the stylish Ford Focus II.
Ford has launched heavy advertising for ather models, like C-MAX, Fiesta, and a new minivan S-MAX.
Mitsubishi is fifth with 33,982 machines.
Its top hit is sedan Lancer, the price starting from under $15,000.
Daewoo is losing its audience (32,300 cars), with old Matiz and Nexia delivered from Uzbekistan. Renault has come to stay at a Moscow plant which used to produce Russian makes. Sales have soared 194%. Out of 30.864 Logan model makes up 21,115.
Nissan is keeping up with the times and does not wait till customers turn to other brands. It constantly reminds them of Nissan with innovations.
As soon as Almera started getting out of focus, it reinforced the line with Almera Classic. It also has Teana and Qashqai.
Kia boasts Spectra made at Izhevsk plant, which earlier produced Russian Oda model.
If it kicks off kia Rio II with a discount, it might scrape into the Top 5.
Mazda is the last in Top 10, although the whole Moscow is teeming with Mazda cars. Mazda 3 is extremely popular with women, but it is also liked by young men. Mazda 6 is good for family trips.