A balloon reading "Ford" flies from a car at the American Independence Day celebrations on July 1, 2006 at Kuskovo Estate in Moscow.
Photo: Dmitry Kostyukov
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Hyundai Slowed Down Upon Entry to Russia
// Ford Now Leads Russian Market
According to tallies for last year from the European Business Association (ASEA), the volume of sales of new foreign-model cars in Russia grew by 65% to hit over one million units for the first time (1.008 million, to be exact, out of a total market for small cars of 1.98 million units), and foreign models occupied more than half of the market (52%). According to independent automobile expert Valery Tarakonov, the volume of the market reached $33.3 billion (47% growth), of which new foreign models were responsible for $25.2 billion. The most popular model was America's Ford, which rose from fourth position last year to snatch first place away from South Korea's Hyundai. Experts in the market believe that Ford, which requires its dealers to sell its cars at the exchange rate set by the Central Bank, has benefited from the drop in the value of the dollar over the last six months, while Hyundai, which was in third place this year, was hurt by problems with deliveries of car parts to the Taganrog car factory. Second place went to Chevrolet.
The top of the list the was not the only sector that experienced some reshuffling: lower down, Nissan climbed from seventh place to fifth, and Renault went from eighth to sixth, displacing Mitsubishi and Daewoo. In the opinion of Mr. Tarakanov, Nissan's success is linked with the entry into the Russian market in 2006 of three new models: the affordable Almera Classic (from $14,000), the compact Note, and the Teana sedan. Renault also posted the most impressive increase in sales for the top ten, 148%, followed by Kia with 143%.
However, Chevrolet has to be considered the overall leader in sales growth in the top ten for 2006. ASEA includes sales of the Chevrolet Niva in totals for Chevrolet, even though many experts do not consider the model to be foreign, since many of its parts, including the engine, are made in Russia. When the Niva (whose sales fell 7%) is excluded from Chevrolet's total, the company's sales growth in Russia for 2006 was 400%, thanks in large part to Ukrainian-assembled Lanos and other affordable models. It is also interesting to note that sales for Porsche, whose cars start at $56,850, grew by 151%, overtaking other luxury brands such as Lexus (87%), Mercedes-Benz (92%), Audi (64%), and BMW (42%).
Sales of Foreign-Model Cars in Russia in 2006
| Rank |
Model |
Units sold in 2006 |
Units sold in 2005 |
Sales Growth (%) |
| 1. | Ford | 115985 | 60564 | 92 | | 2. | AvtoVAZ | 111458 | 66532 | 68 | | 3. | Hyundai | 100685 | 87457 | 15 | | 4. | Toyota | 95689 | 60638 | 58 | | 5. | Nissan | 75529 | 46485 | 62 | | 6. | Renault | 72484 | 29177 | 148 | | 7. | Mitsubishi | 68845 | 55148 | 25 | | 8. | Daewoo | 66717 | 48623 | 37 | | 9. | Kia | 59993 | 23671 | 143 | | 10. | Mazda | 32290 | 21120 | 53 | | 11. | Opel | 19983 | 9389 | 113 | | 12. | Volkswagen | 19186 | 12007 | 60 | | 13. | Suzuki | 16118 | 9803 | 64 | | 14. | Honda | 15723 | 8906 | 77 | | 15. | Peugeot | 15287 | 9251 | 65 | | 16. | Skoda | 14835 | 7535 | 97 | | 17. | Citroen | 11934 | 6922 | 72 | | 18. | Volvo | 10801 | 5713 | 89 | | 19. | Lexus | 10065 | 5369 | 87 | | 20. | Audi | 10050 | 6115 | 64 | | 21. | Mercedes-Benz | 9316 | 4848 | 92 | | 22. | BMW | 9031 | 6338 | 42 | | 23. | Subaru | 7604 | 4106 | 83 | | 24. | Land Rover | 6299 | 4075 | 55 | | 25. | Great Wall | 4788 | 4070 | 18 | | 26. | Iran Khodro | 4534 | -- | -- | | 27. | Ssang Yong | 4018 | 226 | 1678 | | 28. | Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles | 3402 | 1904 | 79 | | 29. | Mercedes-Benz Vans | 1890 | 715 | 164 | | 30. | BYD | 1694 | 152 | 1014 | | 31. | Jeep | 1569 | 885 | 77 | | 32. | Fiat | 1382 | 93 | 1386 | | 33. | Chrysler | 1381 | 837 | 65 | | 34. | Porsche | 1320 | 525 | 151 | | 35. | FAW | 1288 | -- | -- | | 36. | Hafei | 1253 | -- | -- | | 37. | Dodge | 1068 | -- | -- | | 38. | Jaguar | 893 | 522 | 71 | | 39. | Infinity | 729 | -- | -- | | 40. | MINI | 496 | 340 | 46 | | 41. | Cadillac | 416 | 251 | 66 | | 42. | Saab | 383 | 241 | 59 | | 43. | Hummer | 360 | 156 | 131 | | 44. | Alfa Romeo | 54 | 58 | -21 | | 45. | Lancia | 1 | 0 | -- | | Total | | 1008826 | 611840 |
65 |
| Source: European Business Association |
Dmitry Belikov
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 15, 2007
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