OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2010. the European Business Association published data on retail sales of new cars and LCVs in February 2010. Sales on the Russian automotive market dipped 31.8% y-o-y in February to 91,900 units. In 2M2010, sales were down 34.4% y-o-y to 165,900 units.

We estimate the general sales dynamics on the Russian automotive market as moderately negative. Despite the decline in sales on an annual basis, February sales picked up 24% month-on-month. The cash-for-clunker program is supposed to shore up new car sales in the next several months.

We turn attention to the results reported by Sollers, which look far better than the market average. February sales by Sollers were only 5.9% down y-o-y, compared to the general market downturn of 31.8%. Accordingly, retail sales by Sollers in January-February showed a 10.1% slide, against a decline of 34.4% for the market as a whole. We attribute the above-average sales demonstrated by Sollers to its diversified model range, competitive pricing policy and focus on production of sports utility vehicles. In particular, retail sales of SsangYong SUVs slid by just 4.5% in February, while sales of UAZ SUVs climbed 10.2%.