Car market, Financial Services, Good for Business, Statistics

The association attributed the successful beginning of the year entirely to growth in the segment of passenger cars, while the segment of commercial cars continued to show a decline, contracting by 15% in the first six months of this year.

The number of car registrations grew by 1,650 against the first half of 2015 to 9,718 registrations in the first six months of this year.

The association’s representatives said that the market of passenger cars has been growing steadily this year even despite a slight drop in corporate deals. The amount of corporate and leasing deals changed substantially as supplies to the State Police’s car park started in late June.

With lending to individuals picking up, the number of car purchases by individuals jumped 35% to nearly 1,400 autos. In the meantime, the market of commercial cars continued to shrink, dropping below the size of 2014 and nearing the level of the first half of 2013.

The Auto Association’s vice president Ingus Rutins explained that the first half of 2016 was highly successful in terms of new car sales, especially thanks to growing personal car leasing deals. The sales of commercial cars declined primarily because of a changed definition, and thus also taxation, of N1 category trucks, weighing up to 3.5 tons.