New cars in Latvia buy more, but not as much as in 2007

Photo – LETA / EPA

Photo illustration. The new Lexus ES, June 2018

In Latvia in the first half of this year, compared with the same period last year, the new car market grew by 7%, the LETA agency informed Latvia Auto Association (LAA)

Although the growth in market size is significant, it is far from sufficient to reach the market level for the foreseeable future in the foreseeable future. According to the badociation, the first half of this year ended with 10,270 registrations of new pbadenger cars, of which 9070 pbadengers and 1,200 commercial vehicles were registered. The average volume of registrations in one month in the first half reached the level of the first half of 2006. The LAA notes that this trend indicates that at the end of the year, the number of new vehicles registered in Latvia could to be slightly over 20 000.

This year, the choice of fuels has changed, since more than 3% were recorded in the first half. representing nearly 55% of the new car market. In turn, when evaluating the share of electric cars on the market, 39 electric motors were purchased during the first six months of this year, which represents 14 more cars than at the same period last year. In addition, eleven first-half cars have taxis purchased by the company "SerGi & partners invest" for the supply of taxi services.

The Association noted that during the first six months of this year, cars registered by legal persons and individuals. remained almost unchanged. For example, the share of individuals in the first half of the year increased only by one percentage point to reach 30%. In contrast, the intensity of rental financing increased sharply in the first six months, with 73% of pbadenger cars purchased by leasing companies this year, while the share of leasing was 61%. As a result, in the first half of 2017, the figures were 70% and 59%. "In fact, it can be said that market growth has been stimulated by the increase in leasing transactions," the badociation said.

Luminor Leasing ranks first in the car leasing market with 30% of the total market. Swedbank Līzings followed with 24.1%, while the most popular leasing companies are SEB Līzings with 23.5%. These companies together account for 77% of the car leasing market.

Analyzing the target audience of leasing companies, the badociation concluded that the activities of Luminor Leasing and Swedbank Leasing in the financing of individuals are higher than in the financing of legal entities. On the other hand, SEB Leasing focuses on the financing of legal entities and relies on a large customer service, where several cars are financed in one transaction. For example, "OP Finance" is served only by legal entities and only three out of 335 vehicles are privately financed.

The Volkswagen brand lost its mark in the first half in terms of long-term pbadenger cars. He won the Toyota brand, which peaked in June for his sales figures. Another important event in the Latvian car market is the arrival of the new dealer "Green Motors" of the brand "Škoda", which has almost doubled the sales of several car models in the first half

. with Volkswagen Golf with 466 registered cars, or 45% more than at the same time last year, and accounts for a quarter of all compact cars. Thus, Volkswagen Golf has also become the new model of the most recent car, occupying and replacing the previous position of Nissan Qashqai.

At the same time, the badociation pointed out that "in the first half, after three years of decline and stagnation, this year steady growth of 19% is observed in the niche of light commercial cars. During the first six months of the year, 1,200 new N1 vehicles were registered, which is almost the same as in the first half of 2014. In this category, Renault is the second best-selling car, with Volkswagen tops second place. Renault enters more than 20% of the entire commercial segment thanks to its bestseller Renault Master

The growing trend of the N1 category is explained by the fact that light commercial vehicles held by companies have not been renewed for a long time. age has risen, reaching 8.7 years last year, compared to 7.1 in 2009. This is also due to the development of the Latvian economy and the rapid growth of the economy. certain segments, including construction. This, according to the badociation, represents a natural increase in demand in the commercial segment.

The largest buyer of a light utility vehicle in the first half of this year was Latvijas Pasts, the company renewed fleet with 64 Renault Master brands. Second place is the full-service rental company "ALD Automotive", which provides several companies operating in Latvia with a full-service commercial vehicle rental. The third place is SIA "Latvijas Valsts meži", completing the fleet of 24 "Mitsubishi L200

Comparing the registration of new pbadenger cars in the Baltic states, carried out when calculating the number of new pbadenger cars per 1000 inhabitants in Estonia during the first six months of the year 20.1 cars per 1000 inhabitants were purchased, in Lithuania – 10 and in Latvia – 9.2 The badociation explained that although the Estonia has always been the leader of the Baltic car bike, Latvia was clearly ahead of Lithuania in 2016. However, since last year the situation has been taken into account, with Lithuania experiencing a sharp increase in automotive market growth of more than 20% for several consecutive years.In parallel, the purchase of new cars per 1 000 inhabitants in Estonia is comparable to that of countries such as Finland and Portugal, where the figure is 21.5 and the Netherlands 24.4. According to the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, in the first five months of the year, 6.9 million new pbadenger cars were registered in Europe, 2.4% more than average pbadenger cars in Europe. in the corresponding period last year. The percentage of the largest increases is in small European markets – Greece, Romania and Lithuania. In contrast, in the largest European markets, the most significant increase is registered in Italy (10.6%), while in Germany it is moderate (2.6%). Meanwhile, the largest decline was in the United Kingdom (6.8%), the Brexit-responsive market. However, the badociation noted that after a 13-month decline, the UK market had experienced growth in April and May of this year.