MOSCOW (Reuters) – Sales of new cars in Russia plummeted by 72.4% in April from a year earlier after a 4% rise in the previous month, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said on Tuesday.
April was part of a non-working period in Russia, ordered by President Vladimir Putin to stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, bringing the economy grinding to a halt as factories and businesses were forced to suspend operations and citizens asked to self-isolate.
People rushed to buy passenger cars in March, with sales jumping 22.7%, expecting prices to rise after a fall in the rouble in the wake of lower oil prices and the coronavirus outbreak, analytical agency Autostat said last month.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov and Maria Grabar; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Alison Williams)
