Russia's new car and light commercial vehicle sales fell 15 percent to 122,622 vehicles in June as the coronavirus outbreak’s grip on the market started to ease.
Among the brands to report sales gains were Skoda, Mazda and Lexus, data from the Association of European Businesses (AEB) showed.
Skoda rose 3 percent because of strong demand for the Karoq, Octavia and Rapid.
Mazda was up 9 percent on brisk sales of the CX-5 SUV.
Lexus jumped 23 percent in June.
Another bright spot for the market was that June’s decline was not as severe as the market's 52 percent fall in May and the 72 percent collapse in April.
"There are signs that the worst is over," Thomas Staertzel, chairman of the Moscow-based AEB's automobile manufacturers committee, said in a release. "Workshops could restart their operations [in May] and consequently customer traffic gained some momentum."
He added that the AEB hoped that the loosening of restrictions in most of the country in June "will show slight improvement of the situation and contribute to the sustainability of the dealer network."
Staertzel said that "governmental support measures should contribute to a slow market recovery in the second half of the year.”
The AEB forecasts a year-on-year drop of 24 percent for new-car sales this year to 1.34 million.
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Granta, Vesta up top
AutoVAZ's Lada was the top-selling brand in June with a volume of 28,020 vehicles, down 9 percent from the same period last year.
Despite the decline, Lada was able to boost its market share to 21.8 percent in June from 20.4 percent in the same month last year.
Lada finished the first half with the Granta and Vesta as the No. 1- and No. 2-selling cars in Russia, respectively.
