OREANDA-NEWS. July 11, 2008. Car sales rose 41% year on year in the first six months of 2008 to reach 1,65 million units. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ most recent survey, growth in dollar terms was 64%, reaching USD 33,8 billion, reported the press-centre of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Over the six months, 380,000 Russian-brand cars, 290,000 Russian-manufactured foreign-brand cars, 785,000 imported new cars and 190,000 imported used cars were sold in Russia.

Foreign-manufactured cars became the main driver of this growth. Foreign brands manufactured in Russia grew 41% in unit terms and 71% in dollar terms. But new car imports led sales with 54% growth in unit terms and 68% in dollar terms. For every Russian car bought in Russia today, three foreign-brand cars are bought.

Stanley Root, PricewaterhouseCoopers Partner and leader of the automotive practice, comments on the situation:

“The growth of the Russian automotive market is continuing and gaining speed. In other developed countries this market is growing, at best, only slightly each year. The current economic conditions, characterised by high oil prices and the credit crunch, do not facilitate global automotive market development. Most of the growth is coming from developing economies: Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). We estimate that over the next eight years, Russia is set to contribute more than 30% of BRIC automotive market growth in dollar terms — making Russia one of the world’s most important automotive markets today.