AvtoVAZ loses leading position on Ukrainian automobile market for first time in 40 years

VAZ cars on the Ukrainian passenger car market in May lost the leading
position for the first time in 40 years, while Hyundai became the
leader last month, AUTO-Consulting has reported."The results of
sales of new cars in May 2011 will be a 'cold shower' for the managers
of AvtoVAZ. In May, AvtoVAZ's dealers sold 2,003 cars, which allowed
them to occupy 11.98% of the market, while Hyundai sold 2,171 cars
(12.99%)," reads a group report.The document says that ZAZ is catching up AvtoVAZ, so even second position on the market for AvtoVAZ is not guaranteed.The
experts said that in May sales of Russian cars fell by 31%, while sales
of Hyundai cars were skyrocketing thanks to strong demand for the
Hyundai Accent, made by a Russian plant of Hyundai concern.Other
models of the Korean manufacturer also showed good sales, and sales
Hyundai Tucson made by Cherkasy-based plant of Bogdan corporation showed
good results."AvtoVAZ had nothing to respond with. After the
closure of Lada Kalina sedan production, the sales of the brand were
only supported by Samara models made in Russia (around 30% of the
sales), and jointly with VAZ 21093\099 assembled in Zaporizhia, with the
share of sales being 40%," AUTO-Consulting experts said.The
share of the Cherkasy-made VAZ 2110/2111 was around 22% of the sales of
the brand, the Lada Priora's share was 13% and the share of the VAZ-2107
was almost 9%. The share of the Kalina family and former Niva SUVs were
7% each."Thus, in Ukraine AvtoVAZ focused on old models that
showed good sales in previous years. However, the continuous rise in the
prices of Lada cars, competition with Chinese brands and ZAZ, has
finally shattered Ukrainian consumers, and experts forecast this a long
time ago," reads the report.