According to experts, none of the top 40 car producers saw their sales grow in May, and the entire market traced the negative dynamics. Most importers immediately lost 40-45% compared to their April sales, LigaBusinessInform reports.
Top sellers changed as well. Toyota benefited from the decline, rising to the third place on the Ukrainian market and beating Volkswagen. Volkswagen and Geely have sustainably good sales, while Kia has been importing fewer popular models.
Experts note that Skoda is increasing its share, running ahead of three competitors including Renault, Nissan and AvtoVAZ.
Lada dropped to place ten on the Ukrainian market in May, ending up with just 4% of the market. According to experts, Russian cars faced a series of factors simultaneously, including the special duties, changes in their model range and a deficit of cars. This is also true for the premium car producers, but Mercedes-Benz keeps its leadership in the segment, followed by Audi and BMW.
On April 13, special duties were introduced for passenger cars for three years. Passenger cars with an engine capacity of 1.0-1.5l or 1,000-1,500 cu cm are subject to a 6.46% duty in addition to the current 10%, while vehicles with a 1.5-2.2l or 1,500-2,200 cu cm capacity face an additional tax of 12.95%.
Before the new duty was imposed, 19,000 new passenger cars were sold in March 2013, which was 60% more than the sales in March 2012. In April, the sales hit the pre-crisis record. All dealers sold almost 26,000 cars or 35% more than they did in March. The sales of new cars exceeded that of the previous year by 33%. After the duty, experts project a decline or stagnation on the Ukrainian car market, and the rise of car prices.
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