OREANDA-NEWS. On January 24, 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers delivered the latest Russian Automotive Market Review 2007, according to which the previous year set a record in terms of development rate, reported the press-centre of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

For the past six years, there has been significant growth in the Russian automotive market. The indicators for 2007 were no exception.

In 2007 the total market increased in monetary terms by 67% to USD 53,4 billion. Sales increased by 35%, which accounts for 2,79 million cars.

The population spent considerably more on cars over the last year. In addition, the number of car loans increased dramatically. The share of people's total expenses spent on cars also grew. If 4,38% of disposable income went toward cars in 2006, in 2007 the share increased to 5,15%, despite noticeable growth in the average car price.

Automobile sales in Russia did not only rise over the last few years, but underwent major changes. Russian brands gave way to foreign ones. New foreign cars increased their market share in monetary terms from 26% in 2002 to 76% in 2007. Foreign car sales rose in Russia from USD 2.8 billion in 2002 to USD 40,8 billion in 2007 — more than 14 times.

Given the significant increase in the indicators over the last few years, we can forecast that the Russian automotive market can demonstrate more record growth in the future’, says Stanley Root, Automotive Industry Group Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Full report (PDF) you can find here: http://www.pwc.com/extweb/ncpressrelease.nsf/docid/10FC878B90CCB866802573D9004DD660