A huge slowdown in Russia’s light vehicle sales will lead to mergers in the market, predicts Sergei Petrov, founder of the Rolf Group, one of Russia’s largest dealership groups. “Everyone is talking to everyone,” he said at the recent Reuters Russia Investment Summit.
Russia is one of the so-called BRICs, a group of emerging market countries whose automotive markets not long ago were touted as the hottest investment spots. Since then, however, three of the group, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China, have seen sales slow dramatically or even fall. Only China is still showing strong growth. Light vehicle sales there are forecast to grow by 8-10 percent this year. And by Chinese standards, those numbers are seen as somewhat weak.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/26/russia-autos-idUSL6N0RR09H20140926
