Sales of imported cars in Ukraine 4.5 times down in February

15:24

Sales of imported passenger cars in Ukraine in February 2009 fell by 4.5 times compared to February 2008, to 11,000 cars, while in February 2008 around 50,000 cars were sold.

The director general of Auto International (Mazda, Suzuki), Elena Dunina, said at a press conference on Thursday that in January 2009 around 21,000 cars were sold.

Commenting these results, Dunina said that these indicators were registered in Ukraine in 2003-2004.

"I stress that these figures are [from before] the introduction of the 13% extra charge," she said.

The expert gave as a example the practice of Germany, where the authorities pay an additional bonus of EUR 2,000-2,500 to citizens who recycle cars older than nine years to stimulate the purchase of new cars.

Dunina said that European countries pay premiums if new cars, irrespective of their country of origin, are bought.

According to the Auto-Consulting information and analytical group, referring to data of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), in February car sales in Germany grew by 21.5%, to 277,800 cars, which was a record over the past ten years.