AEB: the Russian car market in November fell by 20 percent , 1 thousand less) compared to November 2020 – in a month Russians bought 125.5 thousand cars, according to the report of the Association of European Businesses (AEB). Automakers do not expect the traditional soar of sales ahead of the New Year holidays.
Nevertheless, according to the results of ten months of 2021, the organization notes positive dynamics – the market exceeded the indicators for the same period of 2020 by 6.9 percent (1.44 million cars sold).
“Usually December is a favorable month for car sales, but this year is different, and it seems to us that next year the existing trend will continue, and in the coming months the numbers will worsen even further,” said Thomas Stärzel, Chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee. The main reasons for the market decline, he said, were production cuts, a shortage of semiconductors and logistical problems.
Stärzel added that new measures by the Russian authorities can only aggravate the situation in the car market. According to him, the new draft government decree involves an almost ninefold increase in the rate of recycling fees for electric vehicles. Together with the recent abolition of the zero import duty on electric vehicles, this decision will significantly slow down the development of this market segment, which has just begun to grow in the country. Electric cars will rise in price, their sales will fall, and the dynamics of the development of the charging infrastructure will worsen, the chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee believes.
In October, the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD) predicted a long-term shortage of cars for the country. According to experts, the shortage will last at least until mid-2022, and cars of almost all brands will increase in price. Analysts at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) have named the global auto industry as the worst-hit industry due to supply problems during the pandemic.