New car sales plummet, model range shrinks

September 6, BPN. In August, 542 new passenger cars were sold in Belarus, 83.9 percent less than in August 2021, the Belarusian Automobile Association (BAA) reported.

Since the start of 2022, a total of 11,764 new cars were sold in Belarus against 46,837 cars in 2021, and 53,537 in 2020.

The BAA noted that the choice has shrunk to 36 models available in 2022 against 112 in 2021, with the stock of new cars at over 2,000 vehicles covering about three months of sales.

Experts believe that the Chinese-Belarusian Geely plant will be crucial in the future for the market to reach 500 car sales per month. Currently, Lada remains the market leader with 3,490 cars sold between January and August, followed by Geely and Kia.

The BAA also reported stabilization of prices, including for cars imported from Russia. However, it believes that the legislation and existing car market practices limit dealers in using parallel imports or delivering cars through third countries.