Car market, Latvia, Transport

The data of 2010 show that the average age of cars registered in Latvia is 14 years, the age of vehicles in running order – 12 years.

The average age of cars in Europe is 7.6 years, in Estonia – eight years, whereas Luxembourg has the newest cars with the average age of 3.8 years, writes LETA.

LPAA President Viktors Kulbergs believes that several years might pass until Latvia approaches the average level of Europe.

The data for the first six months of 2011 indicate that 4,000 new automobiles were registered in Latvia, 7,593 – in Estonia, and 6,623 – in Lithuania.

LPAA predicts that the number of new cars at the end of 2011 will reach 9,200, the number will increase by approximately 1,000 each year, and in 2014, when euro will be introduced, amount to 12,500.

The most popular new automobiles purchased in Latvia in the first six months of the year are "Volkswagen Golf" – 192, "Renault Megane" – 163, "Volkswagen Passat" – 112, "Skoda Octavia" – 105, "Toyota Avensis" – 104, "Ford Focus" – 100, and "Opel Astra" – 100.

The Top 5 automobiles in Latvia are "Volkswagen", "Audi", "Volvo", "Opel" and "BMW".