Belarus auto market in 2020 falls by 17.8% as the pandemic and restrictions affect sales. Full-Year sales have been 53.535, while Geely reaches second place by increasing sales 33.4% and gaining 6.5% market share.
Economic Environment
The economy contracted at a softer annual pace in Q3 than in Q2 according to preliminary data. The slight improvement was driven by higher agricultural production and a smaller decrease in the manufacturing sector.
However, domestic demand remained weak as indicated by soft retail sales, as protests likely dragged on domestic activity. In other news, political tensions have escalated in recent weeks after President Lukashenko ignored the opposition’s ultimatum asking him to step down by 26 October.
As a result, the opposition called a general strike. While the observance of the strike has so far been patchy, ongoing protests will likely dent sentiment and retail sales and could impact industrial production—all of which bode ill for recovery in Q4.
Market Trend
The Belarusian car market has been hit in 2020 by the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, which has nevertheless impacted sales.
Belarusian automotive industry has been heavily dependent on the Russian auto market in terms of the source of new vehicles both through the official and non-official distribution channels. Following the 2010 crisis when sales fell down to 12.899 units, the market recovered a level between 25.000 and 30.000 between 2013 and 2017.
Improved economic conditions together with the dramatic reduction of the grey market, fueled the new vehicles’ official registrations leading to the all-time record in both 2017 and 2018 with 54.549 sold last year. In 2019, the market has further grown despite being in an economic environment below the expectations, closing with 65.099 units, up a robust 23.8%.
Indeed, Full-Year sales for 2020 have been 53.535, reporting a 17.8% decrease in sales compared to 2019.
Brand-wise, this year the leader Lada (-34.2%) lost 5.1% market share, followed by Geely (+33.4%) -up 2 spots-, which gained 6.5% share and reported the best performance on the leaderboard. Renault -down 1 spot- on the other hand fell 41.1%, reporting the sharpest drop in sales. Volkswagen fell in 4th place (-30.1%), followed by Kia which lost 7.1%.
Skoda lost 3.8%, followed by Gaz (+29.3%) and Hyundai (+0.4%). Closing the leaderboard we have Toyota rising 30.7% this year and UAZ reaching 10th position.
The most sold vehicle this year has been the Lada Vesta (-38.9%) with 4.632 units sold, followed by the Volkswagen Polo, which lost 27.4% registering 4.214 new sales this year. The Geely Atlas (-2.5%) closes the podium and reports 3.236 new units sold.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for top 10 Brands and top 10 Models
