Russian Car Sales Decline More Than Forecast as Distress Spreads

Sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles fell 29 percent from a year earlier after a 46 percent drop in December, the Association of European Businesses in Moscow said in a statement on Monday. The median of four estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a 23 percent decline.

Continued weakness in oil prices is adding to the plight of automakers already wrestling with weak consumer demand and ruble devaluation. With the economy of the world‘s biggest energy exporter on track for its second year of recession, the government is readying about 50 billion rubles ($650 million) in state support for the car industry this year on top of the 43 billion rubles it received in 2015, according to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.