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OREANDA-NEWS. According to Association of European Businesses, sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia decreased by 41.5% to 132,456 vehicles in April. During four months of 2015 the automotive market in Russia reduced by 37.7% to 516,135 vehicles.

According to AEB, in April the market reached the lowest point for the ten-year history of the Association’s statistics – 132,000 vehicles sold. The sales were so low only in April 2009, although the result was a bit better (136,000 vehicles sold). The similarity with the crisis 2009 demonstrates the seriousness of the current situation. However, the dynamics of the current crisis is different from that registered in 2009 due to the fact that the government reacted much earlier this time, having taken a number of measures to avoid further market decline. So AEB does not expect further deterioration of the statistics as compared to the previous year. The negative trend will most probably be smoothed over next few months, they believe in the Association.  According to AEB forecast, in 2015 the Russian automotive market will come up to 1.89 million vehicles, which is 24% less than last year.