Car sales in Russia might go down 14% starting 2016 if the country goes into a consecutive year of recession, as it was announced by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – the largest professional services network in the world.
Oleg Malyshev, a partner at PwC in Russia, explained that a low 1.1 million cars might be sold in Russia starting next year if the market slowdown continues to take its course in the country and if the auto market does not receive support from the Russian government. This year the number of units sold was projected to be around 1.28 million, which showed a massive decrease of 45% compared to car sales there back only in 2014. Malyshev added that the car demand from potential buyers will move towards cheaper vehicles in the following year in Russia.
Citing the Russian Deputy Prime Minister – Arkady Dvorkovich – the Russian News Agency RIA reported at the beginning of December that the government is looking to give $706 million to help the car industry in 2016.
Chief executive officer of Rolf Group (one of the biggest auto dealers in Russia), Tatyana Lukovetskaya, said that the ruble’s worth going down also put a lot of pressure on the car market there and led to an increase in the price of imported vehicles. She explained that “Unfortunately, the dollar exchange rate is going up again, making it harder for carmakers to hold the prices, which may affect sales in 2016.”
The currency in Russia saw a staggering fall of 54% in the face of the U.S. dollar since 2014 begun and witnessed a 17% decrease since January 2015.