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Russians spend $15 bln on imported cars

Credit: Nikolay Khizhnyak | RIAN

In the first half of 2019, Russian citizens bought 598,000 foreign-made cars worth RUR 1.06 trn ($15.3 bln) in total, the Autostat information and analytical agency reported.

The five top popular foreign brands are KIA, Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW. According to the agency analysts, slightly more than half (about 51%) of all money spent by Russians on imported cars between January and June went for purchasing these brands.

Prices for new automobiles are on the rise and will continue to grow despite the market decline observed at the moment, Autostat executive director Sergei Udalov said in a comment for Invest Foresight.

“Estimation of the money spent on new cars has revealed that 40% of them are sold on secured credits and some part is purchased for consumer credits, but I think that this money is spent for buying low-cost or second-hand automobiles,” the expert noted.

He added that in the primary market the major part of RUR 1 trn is not the money saved by customers from scratch.

“This amount includes the money customers received from selling their old vehicles and the money they added to it; this is not the cumulative sum saved entirely for buying new cars,” Sergei Udalov concluded.

The expert suggested that in the second half of 2019 the amount of money spend for imported cars could double. 

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