

Please try another search
(Reuters) -New car sales in Russia fell by a record 78.5% year on year in April, dropping for a tenth month in a row as the sector was hit by acute shortages and soaring prices caused by disrupted logistics and a volatile rouble.
New car sales of 32,706 cars in April were less than one-quarter of those sold a year earlier, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said on Wednesday.
"The depth of contraction exceeded that in April 2020 when sales were suspended due to epidemiologic restrictions," analysts at Promsvyazbank said in a note.
"Such a sharp drop can be explained by a shortage of cars at warehouses, by rising prices and prohibitive rates on car loans."
The Russian central bank raised its key rate to 20% in late February in an emergency move aimed at containing financial risks days after Russia launched what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine. It has since trimmed the rate back to 14%.
Sales of new cars this year are expected to shrink by at least 50%, the AEB said last month, after a 4.3% increase in 2021.
Demand is unlikely to recover due to a decline in real incomes, making the car industry the most affected industrial sector, VTB Capital analysts said.
"Parallel imports won't help lower the deficit tangibly due to high costs," VTB Capital said.
Last week, Moscow published a list of goods from foreign carmakers, technology companies and consumer brands that the government has included in a "parallel imports" scheme aimed at shielding consumers from business isolation by the West.
In April, sales of Lada cars by Russia's largest automaker AvtoVaz fell 78%, AEB data showed.
In the first four months of 2022, Russia's sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles declined 43% to 293,846 units, AEB said.
The Russian car market had ranked among the most promising globally until 2014, encouraging foreign automakers to build factories there.
Before the latest Western sanctions over Ukraine, Russian car sales stood at 1.67 million last year compared with almost 3 million sold a year in the 2000s.
By Julie Zhu HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian shares edge down in early trade on Tuesday with investors taking their cue from a volatile Wall Street session overnight, while oil prices...
(Reuters) - China Evergrande Group said on Tuesday a winding-up petition was filed against it by investment holding firm Top Shine Global Ltd in Hong Kong for not fulfilling a...
By Selena Li, Kane Wu and Julie Zhu HONG KONG (Reuters) -In 1997, the world watched as Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule, with some pessimistic or wary about the outlook...
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.