Only 79,000 cars were sold in March, Avtostat calculated, which is 43% less than a year earlier. In January and February 2022, the drop in demand was 12%.
According to experts, this is due to the suspension of car deliveries to the Russian market, disruption of component logistics supply chains, the collapse of the Russian ruble and an increase in car prices by an average of 35-45%.
In March, cars were basically bought from the brands Lada, Kia, Hyundai, Renault and Toyota. The biggest drop in demand occurred at Skoda, Great Wall, Subaru, Volkswagen, Lexus, Cadillac and JAC. And the only company that turned out to be in the black was Haval.
At the same time, turnover on the secondary market grew by 4.2% in the first quarter. The most popular cars were cheap Lada Priora, Samara and Granta.
In such a situation, it seems that we can expect the return of discounts on new cars, the launch of various programs and the reduction of dealer margins. But with a persistent shortage one has to be careful with this, although Exeed has already announced three programs that offer discounts on branded crossovers.
Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Behind the wheel”:
There are no more new cars on the market. Everything that comes in to us are cars from China. But they also cannot fill the vacuum that has been created in our car market overnight. Chinese automakers will of course increase the delivery volume, but they will do so gradually, taxing not only production but also logistics. In any case, they won’t close the entire market, and the rest is uncertainty and choosing the scraps of cars that cost prohibitive money. And if there is no product, why would prices fall?