Russia September 2016: Creta (#4) and Kaptur (#13) stun
The Hyundai Creta climbs up to 4th place overall for its 2nd month on sale in Russia.
* NOW UPDATED with the Top 55 All-brands and Top 257 All-models – see title *
Russian new car sales post a 21st consecutive month of year-on-year decline in September at -10.9% to 125.568 units, pulling the year-to-date tally down 14.4% to 1.020.932. Despite the doom-and-gloom overall market results, 10 of the Top 15 brands actually post year-on-year gains, with lower-volume brands suffering the most. Market leader Lada is up 5% to 22.837 sales and 18.2%, followed by Hyundai (-6%) and Kia (-17%). Renault (+1%), Toyota (+18%) and Volkswagen (+3%) are in positive as are GAZ (+2%), Skoda (+5%) and UAZ (+2%) in the Top 10. Below, Mercedes (+1%), BMW (+6%) but most impressively Lifan (+12%) and Lexus (+51%) shine. Subaru (+37%) and Jaguar (+107%) also impress further down the ranking. At the other end of the stick Ford (-27%), Audi (-39%), Datsun (-41%), Peugeot (-41%), Mitsubishi (-52%), Citroen (-54%), Chevrolet (-56%), Suzuki (-63%), Honda (-74%) and Geely (-85%) all implode.
The Renault Kaptur hits a record #13 spot in September.
In the models ranking, the Kia Rio posts a second consecutive month in pole position (and the third ever after November 2014) despite sales tumbling down 26% to 8.014 vs. -9% for the Granta in 2nd place at 7.815 units. The Hyundai Solaris, still #1 year-to-date, dives down 41%, partly because of the discontinuation of the hatchback variant – which accounted for roughly 20% of the nameplate’s sales in Russia – to give way in the Hyundai St Petersburg plant to the hero of the past two months: the Creta. Landing directly at #6 and #1 SUV last month, the Creta gains a further 45% and two spots to step up to #4 with 5.058 sales and 4% share. Based on BSCB calculations, this is the highest market share ever reached by a single SUV in Russia (previous best: 3.9% by the Renault Duster in May 2016) and the highest monthly volume so far this year (previous best: 5.298 by the Renault Duster in December 2015).
The Nissan X-Trail soars 223% year-on-year in September.
It’s a double-edged sword for Hyundai as this tremendous success could prevent the Solaris from finishing 2016 in the top spot. For now it leads with 66.602 sales (-22%) vs. 63.622 (-30%) for the Lada Granta and 62.278 (-13%) for the Kia Rio. While the VW Polo goes from strength to strength at +21% in 5th place, the Lada Vesta may already have reached its full potential: it drops two spots to #6 and 3.5% share, its lowest since last May after hitting 4.8% in July. Below, the Renault Duster (-2%) and Lada 4×4 (-8%) are unaffected by the Creta and gain market share by sliding down slower than the market.
The Infiniti Q30 lands at #199 in Russia this month.
The Toyota Camry (+36%) and RAV4 (+221%) round up the Top 10 with spectacular results and the second hero of the month is the Renault Kaptur back up 13 spots on August to a record-breaking 13th position with 2.218 sales. The Nissan X-Trail (+223%) and Qashqai (+73%) also impress. Further down, the Lifan X60 (#38) leads Chinese models ahead of the Lifan X50 (#48), Lifan Solano (#82) and Chery Tiggo (#90). Among recent launches (<12 months), the Hyundai Tucson (#47), Mercedes GLC (#58), Mercedes GLS (#59) and Jaguar F-Pace (#100) all fit within the Top 100 while we welcome the Infiniti Q30 into the Russian sales charts this month at #199.
Previous month: Russia August 2016: Kia Rio leads, Hyundai Creta instant #1 SUV
One year ago (1): Russia September 2015: Momentous shift to Korean models taking root
One year ago (2): Russia September 2015: Now with Top 318 All-models (BSCB exclusive)
Full September 2016 Top 55 All-brands and Top 257 All-models below.
