Russian car market collapses – leading to absurd “innovation” Iran: protests against imminent executions and more death sentences handed down

New car sales in Russia fell 59 percent year-on-year in 2022 to 626,300 units. This is reported by the Avtostat consultancy, which specializes in the Russian car market, Interfax news agency reports. Most of the vehicles sold are Russian or Chinese models after Western automakers halted production in the country following the start of Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The German car manufacturers VW, BMW and Mercedes, among others, were active in Russia. The Mercedes plant in the Moscow area was only inaugurated in 2019 in the presence of President Vladimir Putin. All three companies have closed their factories. Other manufacturers from abroad have already withdrawn.

Return of the old names

This leads to some absurd developments. In this way, the ancient local brands Volga and Moskvich are brought back to life. Some new cars roll off the assembly line without ABS and airbags – both of which have long been bare minimum equipment. A modern exhaust gas cleaning system is also often lacking due to bottlenecks.

The Russian car market is still far from its peak. In 2008, nearly three million vehicles were sold in Russia. There was already speculation that Russia would replace Germany as Europe’s most important sales market. The international financial crisis and later the sanctions that followed the annexation of Crimea put a brake on this development. The Russian car market has been characterized by crises in recent years. The fall to just over 600,000 vehicles represents the lowest sales figures for the Russian car market in decades.

(dpa, mab)