What Is The Hottest Automotive Market? I'll Give You A Hint, It Isn't China

What Is The Hottest Automotive Market? I'll Give You A Hint, It Isn't China
General Motors Corp.'s half-built plant on the muddy outskirts of St. Petersburg won't roll out its first vehicle until November, but the new Russian hires are already hard at work.

In a warehouse near the factory entrance, young men and women drill bolts into car-sized wooden crates, spray-paint them and practice spot-welding metal sheets in the time allotted for each task. When production gets under way, they're expected to be up to speed.

Across the road, Toyota Motor Corp. is already rolling out Camrys at a new plant to tap surging demand in Russia for cars, while Ford Motor Co. is considering building its second Russian plant.

"The market has grown at a much faster clip than we thought," said GM President Frederick Henderson. "We're seeing all of our global competition running hard in Russia."

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StarStar - 5/30/2008 2:19:51 PM
+6 Boost
Take some reading classes. Toyota is NOT dominating anything, is just starting to sell some cars on a new market together with GM and other car manufacturers that were not selling anything in Russia before.
You notice that BMW is mentioned when it comes to "ultra luxury" not the lowly Lexus. Oh, snap...


Agent009Agent009 - 5/30/2008 2:20:11 PM
+7 Boost
Top ten foreign brand by sales in Russia Through April


YTD2007 YTD2006 % Change

Chevrolet 82,206 53,835 52.7
Hyundai 65,458 31,445 104.1
Ford 59,700 54,714 9.1
Toyota 52,734 45,251 16.5
Nissan 49,475 29,410 68.2
Renault 35,352 28,162 25.5
Opel 33,749 14,833 155.2
Daewoo 33,093 24,958 32.5
Mitsubishi 32,746 20,750 57.8
Kia 31,962 19,868 60.8


BostonBiosafetyBostonBiosafety - 5/30/2008 2:38:49 PM
+6 Boost
Mike, what color is the sky in your world?


pchera01pchera01 - 5/30/2008 4:49:57 PM
+1 Boost
What happened to Honda in Russia?


VISOVISO - 5/30/2008 7:13:45 PM
+6 Boost
Lexus isn't dominating Russia. Stop the bullcrap dude already! You sound ignorant at best or try to runaway from facts. Currently Mercedes and Audi dominate the luxury segment in Russia followed closely by BMW and then Lexus. I'll give you that Russia accounts for about 40%-45% of ALL of its European sales. Not sure that is something to wave Lexus flags over considering that Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz sell well over 500,000 units in Europe while Lexus manages about 40,000 units. End of story.


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 5/31/2008 4:34:59 AM
0 Boost
"Currently Mercedes and Audi dominate the luxury segment in Russia followed closely by BMW and then Lexus."

yet, NONE of those sell enuff to be a significant percentage of total russian sales. luxury models remain a niche market.

the ONLY euro brand (other than renault) selling enuff to have a significant percentage, is VW at 3.2%. ALL the other euro brands are lumped together as "other euro brands."

which follows the "other japanese brands" in percentage share.

toyota, mitsubishi, and nissan-renault all individually sell more audi, bmw, and m-b.




ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 5/31/2008 4:37:54 AM
0 Boost
...sell more THAN audi, bmw and m-b.

which i suppose, is merely part of the LUMPEN "other euro."


S4cabriofoxoneS4cabriofoxone - 5/31/2008 2:09:51 PM
+1 Boost
"yet, NONE of those sell enuff to be a significant percentage of total russian sales. luxury models remain a niche market. "

So? We're comparing Audi, BMW and Merc to Lexus. They all sell more. Case closed--no excuses.

"toyota, mitsubishi, and nissan-renault all individually sell more audi, bmw, and m-b."

Is this surprising???


Htay7500Htay7500 - 5/31/2008 3:09:05 PM
+1 Boost
"toyota, mitsubishi, and nissan-renault all individually sell more audi, bmw, and m-b."

ford and chevy also outsell the luxury brands, what are you trying to say?



lexusrox123lexusrox123 - 5/30/2008 1:42:00 PM
-2 Boost
good for toyota, i guess.


Agent63Agent63 - 5/30/2008 8:09:07 PM
+1 Boost
MichaelTaylor is a character controlled by another fanboy to take the heat but still get his point across. Haven't we seen many of those?

As far as I remember.. the characters known as Lexury was infamous for plaguing this site with dumb comments not supported by facts.


hao420hao420 - 5/30/2008 9:13:24 PM
+1 Boost
obviously,Lexus should be the hottest auto maker,if u guys 4 get D Toyota parent company name....<


WillisWillis - 5/31/2008 6:09:49 AM
+2 Boost
Huu76 = moron

Your idiotic posts disgust me.


Htay7500Htay7500 - 5/30/2008 10:36:08 PM
+3 Boost
russians also like their cars in a stick, something that I wish, happened here...


JWalkerLegrandeJWalkerLegrande - 5/31/2008 9:37:57 AM
+1 Boost


Agent 009 you need to doublecheck your numbers... The Russian market is close to 3M cars per year, your YTD figures don't add up even as you extrapolate them. Wait, I can see you are disqualifying Lada, the largest maker (close to 800K cars per year) - a subsidiary of Renault.

The import market in fact is dominated by the European makes - Chevy stands for the South Korean Daewoos designed by the German Opel guys, Ford means the European car lineup, Renault is Dacia and Renault combined, Nissan is the European models...

With roughly 10% of the market, the Japanese combined are not exactly ruling that market either.



ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 6/6/2008 6:02:14 AM
+1 Boost
excerpt from another detnews article:

"Last year, 441,487 used vehicles, or nearly half of the 1.06 million shipped out of Japan, were sold in Russia, according to Japanese government data provided by the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association.

"Over the years, the Japanese vehicles established a strong reputation for reliability. "Police use these cars in eastern Russia," said Alexey Bocharov, sales director at the Laura Ozerki dealership in St. Petersburg.

"In Vladivostok, if you're starting to drive, you'll learn on a right-hand drive car," he said. "Ninety-five percent of the car park is previously used cars from Japan. People say they're unbreakable."

"They're in high demand as far west as Moscow, he said."


over time, no doubt there will be a corollary HIGH DEMAND for NEW japanese vehicles too. riding on the reputation of these abundant and excellent used cars.



ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 6/6/2008 6:05:45 AM
+1 Boost

i had submitted the whole article, which was up for maybe a few hours. don't know why AutoSpies KILLED it! more anti-japanese bias?
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