Russian car market sales value up 21.9% in 2012, Ernst & Young says
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MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia's car market increased in value by 21.9 percent to 2.33 trillion rubles ($77 billion) in 2012, according to data from auditing firm Ernst & Young.
Auto sales rose 10 percent to 2.935 million, reaching the pre-crisis level of 2008 and in stark contrast with Europe, where sales fell to a 17-year low.
Russia's car market flourished as the economy weathered a global slowdown due to a rise in government spending before President Vladimir Putin's election in March, while prices for its key export, oil, have stayed above $100 per barrel.
Growth in the value of the Russian car market has slowed from 2011, when it grew 50 percent to 1.9 trillion rubles, Ernst & Young said.
Ernst & Young's sales figures for 2012 are slightly above the 2.76 million reported earlier this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which estimated the market will grow 5 percent in 2013 to some 2.9 million cars.
In December the auto market increased by just 7 percent year-on-year to 207.2 million rubles, Ernst & Young said.
However, the December results were better in respect of average sale price, which reached a maximum of some 818,600 rubles in December, the company said.
It compares with an average sale price of 793,600 rubles over the entire year, the data from the accountancy firm showed.
Average car sales in Russia totaled some 194 billion rubles per month, it said.
In comparison with the previous year, the average price of a car increased by 10 percent, or 73,000 rubles.
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