BUSINESS

BMW Positive On Russia

Bloomberg

Bayerische Motoren Werke, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, expects sales in Russia to increase 15 percent next year as the country’s economy recovers from the worst contraction on record.

“The market has already reached the bottom,” Christian Kremer, head of BMW Group Russia, said in an interview in St. Petersburg on Friday. “We will see signs of stabilization next year. There are still some clouds in the sky.”

Munich-based BMW sold 13,718 cars in Russia, including the Mini brand, in the first 10 months of the year, a decline of 16 percent from the same period last year. That was the smallest decline among the 20 most popular foreign brands in the country, according to the Association of European Business.

BMW is targeting about 17,000 deliveries for the full year, Kremer said.

Russia’s car market, Europe’s second biggest last year, fell to fifth biggest in the first half as the economy shrank, including by a record 10.9 percent in the second quarter, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said in July. Russian sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles tumbled 51 percent from the same period last year to 1.2 million, according to the Association of European Business in Moscow.

“Russia is definitely one of the markets that will recover,” Kremer said Friday. “Within five years, you will see that it will be again one of the biggest European markets.”

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