St. Petersburg auto industry fell by 44% in May

According to the agency Auto-Dealer-SPb, for five months of 2020, St. Petersburg car plants Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota produced 110.9 thousand cars, which is lower by 30% than in the same period of the previous year. In May, the production volume in the city reached 16.3 thousand cars – lower by 44% than a year before. This is the lowest indicator for the results of one month, starting from July 2016, when the same number of cars was produced in St. Petersburg (excluding April of this year, when the plants were closed, with the exception of one working week of Hyundai).

“Plants are forced to respond to a collapse in demand caused by restrictions on the operation of car dealerships in April and May, as well as the depreciation of the ruble,” - said Evgeny Yeskov, the leading expert at “Auto-Dealer-SPb”. - So, in April-May, sales of St. Petersburg cars in Russia fell by 66% in compare with the same period of the previous year. In June, the car production in St. Petersburg may increase in compare with May. "In particular, St. Petersburg Hyundai plant, which currently operates in two production shifts, will work several times additionally on weekends in June. Every day, the company will produce more than 700 cars.

As AUTOSTAT previously reported, in May Toyota Motor Plant in St. Petersburg began the delivery of Toyota Camry and RAV4 vehicles to Armenia. The new direction became the third export market for the company after Belarus and Kazakhstan, where Russian-made Toyota cars are being delivered. The starting export plan to Armenia is about 450 Toyota Camry and RAV4 cars by the end of 2020 and implies an increase in volumes in the future.