Vehicle Sales Plunge 24% in Russia

Demand for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia dropped last month to 115,400 units from 152,700 in January 2014, according to the Moscow-based Assn. of European Businesses.

AEB blames much of the decline on short inventories of relatively lower-priced 2014 vehicles and exchange-rate adjustments that have significantly hiked prices for 2015 models. The association predicts even sharper sales shrinkage in February.

January sales by market leader Lada dropped 26% to 17,500 units. Sales rose for Hyundai (+15% to 12,700) and Kia (+1% to 11,300). Volumes fell for Nissan (-18% to 9,100), Renault (-32% to 8,800), Toyota (-14% to 7,100) and Volkswagen (-28% to 6,200).

Russia's most popular model in January was Hyundai's Solaris sedan. It outsold the market's perennial leader, the Lada Granta, by 6%.

Results were mixed for European most popular luxury brands last month. Sales jumped 17% to 3,200 for Mercedes-Benz. But demand was flat for BMW (2,500 units) and down for Audi (-13% to 1,400) and Land Rover (-16% to 800).