Sales of cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia rose by 43 percent year-on-year in the first ten months of 2011 to almost 2.2 million cars, the Association of European Businesses said on Wednesday.
Growth for October 2011 amounted to 27 percent or 51,349 cars compared with the same month in 2010, the AEB said.
"The 27 percent increase for the month of October shows the stabilizing trend for the final quarter of 2011. The very strong start to 2011 means that our full year forecast increases to 2.55 mln cars and light commercial vehicles as we do not expect a significant slowdown in the last two months of the year," said AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee Chairman David Thomas.
Among the top ten bestselling models of passenger cars, nine are produced in Russia, the AEB said.
" For the full year the total industry volume will increase by more than 30 percent. Based on a 2.55mln market this year our initial forecast for 2012 is 2.8 mln, growth of 12 percent compared to 2011 and very close to the highest ever year for the Russian cars and light commercial market in 2008 of 2.9 mln," he said.
Sales of Russian-made vehicles has been boosted by a government-funded incentive scheme to encourage buyers to scrap older cars in favor of new domestically-produced machines.
