Nissanhas “by ahair”missed the first ten:
5,152 carswere registered, 4,839ofwhichwere
handedover to the customers byofficial dealers.
Among the “official”ones, aheadof thepack is
AlmeraClassic (1,317). In the second row are
Note (799), Micra (647) andX-Trail (533); on
their heels isQashqai (492). NissanTiida is, as of
today, fallingbehind (296). Deliveries of Nissan
Tiida to theUkrainianmarket is now secured
exclusivelyby “greydealers”,mostly from the
Arabianmarkets, with corresponding accessories.
When speaking about theprice segment, Tiida
is a sequencehigher thanAlmeraClassicwhich
belongs to the sameC-class.
Itwouldbe appropriate tomention that
the summer time is traditionally theperiod
when cabriolets sell extremelywell; in this year,
thismarket has grown immensely. Therewas
demand for openmodels of allmanufacturers,
fromVolkswagen Eos toBentleyContinental GTC.
Among thepremiumbrands the situation
remains the same. The Lexus, Mercedes, BMW
andAudimodels are at theendof the top third
ten. Notably, themost successful is Lexus (2,208
cars sold); however, these cars arebeing so far
soldonlyby “greydealers”.
AYEARBEFORE
Itwouldbe interesting to compare the
indexes of the year 2007with car sales of the
preceding year. Thus, AUTO-Consulting reports
that in2006, 371,019 carswere sold inUkraine;
this is by 39,68%more than in2005. Theexperts
havepredicted this result from themiddleof the
year, after anunexpected splashof the spring
2006. (In such away, the year 2006became for
the car companiesmore successful than2005
when therewas a riseby 25%).
Besides thequantitative change, our car
market has also changed in aqualitativeway.
After July 1st 2006, when theenvironmental
norms Euro-2were introduced, theexplosive
increase in sales of foreign-made cars began,
against thebackgroundof adecline in sales
of carsmanufactured in theCIS-countries. It is
very illustrative that by theendof the year the
proportionof sales “foreign-made cars : CIS-made
cars”reached68 : 32, whereas a year ago this
proportionwas 50 : 50.
The rapid advanceof foreign-made cars has
drastically changed the situation at themarket.
Despite thequantitativegrowthexperiencedby
virtually allmanufacturers, someof them could
not keep thepace andhave lost their positions.
In terms of Europeandimensions, Ukraine
has occupied in2006, by sales and service
market volume, theninthplace in Europe,
leavingbehindAustria, Sweden, Greece, Poland,
Portugal, Italy andBelgium. And just a year ago,
Ukrainewas at theplace12.
It is alsonoteworthy that in2006, Mitsubishi
andToyotawere immediatelybehind the leading
group (VAZ, Daewoo, Chevrolet, ZAZ and Skoda);
thesemanufacturerswere, already in the first half
of 2007, among the first five, having forcedout
ZAZ and Skoda.
It is evident thatmore andmoreUkrainian
buyers prefermore expensive foreign-made
cars. If in 2005, themost popularmodelswere
carswith the price up to ˆ 10,000, in 2006 the
interest shifted tomore expensive cars, with the
price up to ˆ 20,000.
The same trendhas been characteristic also
for Premiumbrands; not only their quantitative
sales havegrownbut also themarket share.
PROSPECTS
TheexpectedUkraine’s entry into theWTO
will be themost important factorwhichwill
impact, indifferent but verynoticeableways,
ITWOULDBE INTERESTING
TOCOMPARETHE INDEXES
OFTHEYEAR2007WITHCAR
SALESOFTHEPRECEDING
YEAR. THUS, AUTO-
CONSULTINGREPORTSTHAT
IN2006, 371,019CARSWERE
SOLD INUKRAINE; THIS IS
BY39,68%MORETHAN IN
2005. IT ISEVIDENTTHAT
MOREANDMOREUKRAINIAN
BUYERSPREFERMORE
EXPENSIVEFOREIGN-MADE
CARS. IF IN2005, THEMOST
POPULARMODELSWERE
CARSWITHTHEPRICEUP
TOˆ10,000, IN2006THE
INTERESTSHIFTEDTOMORE
EXPENSIVECARS,WITHTHE
PRICEUPTOˆ20,000
BUSINESS EMIRATES
152
ÍÅÄÂÈÆÈÌÎÑÒÜ, ÁÈÇÍÅÑ, ÈÍÂÅÑÒÈÖÈÈ
ÓÊÐÀÈÍÀ -ÎÀÝ
