AEB figures show that last month, sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia dropped by 9.9% compared with October 2013 or by 23,116 sold units, and amounted to 211,365 cars.

Year to date, new car and LCV sales declined by 12.7% or 289,869 items in comparison to the same period of the previous year. This year 1,991,312 cars have been sold.

Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, commented: ‘Market performance in October was anything but great, however a step forward compared to the very weak results in recent months. The reason behind the relative improvement is the combined effect of the scrappage incentive supporting the sales of domestic models, and the sharp decline of the Ruble raising the short-term demand for imported models. The stimulating impact of these two factors will be only temporary, but for now appears to be carrying sufficient momentum for deliver a further improvement in the market sales statistics for November.’