Russia’s automotive market is booming – still. Despite tightened bank lending throughout the world, Russia included, and concerns over job cuts, Russians are still turning out in record numbers to buy new cars. The Russian market has emerged as a strong point for General Motors and Ford , two Detroit automakers seeking good news from anywhere, even unexpected sources.
Chevrolet ’s Lacetti, a product of GM Daewoo assembled in South Korea, has overtaken Ford’s evergreen Focus as the best-seller in Russia, primarily because GM was able to immediately allocate more cars to the Russian market than Ford was able to do.
The Lacetti is best-known to North American consumers as the Suzuki Reno and Forenza, or, in some markets, as the Chevrolet Optra.
GM’s October sales were up about 22 percent in Russia, a market expected to reach about 2.8 million vehicle sales overall in 2008.
