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Based on results of 11 months of 2006, the sales of foreign cars (or cars produced in Russia on license from foreign automakers) have grown by 63 percent. The increase in absolute numbers amounted to 342,866 units. These figures give experts an opportunity to say that this year the total sales of foreign cars in Russia will exceed one million units for the first time in history.

Experts say that the first place by sales will be occupied by Ford, while the second and third place will go to Chevrolet and Hyundai. Both Ford and Chevrolet have large production facilities in Russia. Ford has a plant in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad region, where its extremely popular Ford Focus model is produced. Chevrolet has a joint venture with Russia’s largest automaker AvtoVAZ. The JV produced Chevy-Niva off-road vehicle. Ford has replaced Hyundai, which led the list last year, because the South Korean automaker had problems with cars deliveries and assembly kits due to strikes organized by its workers in South Korea. Chevrolet’s sales have grown considerably this fall thanks to Lanos model, which is assembled in Ukraine and imported to Russia free of customs duties.

Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan are also set to provide serious competition to this year’s leaders, especially once they commission their assembly plants in Russia. Despite the lower number of sold cars, Toyota leads the foreign automakers in terms of financial volumes of sales.

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Experts forecast that based on results of 2006 foreign automakers will sell the following numbers of cars in Russia:

Ford 120,000; Chevrolet 119,000; Hyundai 102,000; Toyota 96,000; Nissan 78,000; Renault 73,000; Mitsubishi 68,000; Daewoo 68,000; Kia 62,000 and Mazda 31,000.

Analysts say that next year the group of leaders may be joined by Volkswagen, which has been occupying a stable 11th place in this list over the last few years. This year the German corporation laid the cornerstone of its new plant in Russia. Production at the plant is set to start as early as next year.

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