Russian medium and heavy truck market hit by Covid-19 in March
By Jim Gibbins - 1st May 2020
Russia – The Russian market for trucks with gross vehicle weights of over 5 tons (>5t gvw) has contracted by 2.8% in the first quarter of 2020 (Q1/20) compared with the same period last year, according to statistics kept by LLC Avtostat Info.
A total of 16,665 units were sold, 7,389 of them being foreign-brand models (7.2% up). The figures were good considering the economic collapse caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, most of the growth took place in the first two months of the year, when demand was spurred on by the increase in the fee associated with the stocking of used and imported new truck. (When a used vehicle or a new vehicle is taken in by a dealer, a fee is paid to the government - in January, this fee was increased by 66%, resulting in high order books in late 2019 for delivery in January and February). For the month of March registrations fell by 19%.
