The season of generous discounts in the Russian car market comes to the end

The season of large discounts for new cars, which were in the Russian market during the first half of 2009, seems to come to its end. Such conclusion can be made after studying the analysis of the price policy of participants of the Russian car market, carried out by the analytical agency "AUTOSTAT" in the second half of August and presented in the next monthly review.
Experts of the agency "AUTOSTAT" state that the prices for the cars offered by dealers of foreign companies within the limits of actions and with discounts in August differed from the price-lists on the average only by 3.6 %. In June-July this difference made 9-10 % and reached 13-15 % in the spring. Analysts explain it by the fact that sales of cars produced in 2008 on which there were the most significant discounts, come to the end and influence the market less and less.
"At this time, offering discounts for cars 2009 companies are not so generous and vey often confine themselves only to the fact of the discount presence, says Sergey Udalov, the deputy director of the agency "AUTOSTAT". According to him the greatest amount of discounts are offered not on mass models but basically on cars which are not popular among potential buyers.
Nevertheless, there are exceptions also. Analysts remark that the greatest activity in respect of offering discounts in the Russian market is kept by French brands Peugeot and Citroen. On some models, for example �itroen C-Crosser and Peugeot 4007 they reach 270-300 thousand rubles. Renault and Nissan promote their production with active advertising support and big discounts. They are part of one company though having different dealer networks and leading different marketing policy.
The German brand Opel keeps the special prices for its production. Its destiny is uncertain and starts to heat political environment between the USA, Germany and Russia. German brands Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz offer discounts on some models and modifications on a selective basis.
The popular Japanese brand Toyota finally passed to the ruble prices in August that led to some price reduction of some models, including Corolla, the most popular model in Russian market. Also Toyota started the interesting enough credit program for a term of 5 years. According to this program under the condition of the initial payment of 50 % the monthly payment does not exceed 3 thousand rubles.