ASTANA – One third of Kazakh buyers in June chose cars made in Kazakhstan, and official sales of new cars in the country increased by 9 percent in June when compared with May.
Photo credit: automag.kz
The Association of Kazakhstan Automobile Businesses reported that 3,880 units were sold in June, while authorised dealers sold 3,573 units in May. In the first half of 2016, authorised dealers sold 21,964 new vehicles, compared with 53,251 in the same period last year.
Experts say demand for new cars is increasing again in the country since the beginning of 2016, while demand for imported automobiles has weakened.
The Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) reported that it approved 7,201 credit requests for a total of 25.5 billion tenge (US$74.6 million), amounting to 90.96 percent of the total allocated amount as of June 30. Second tier banks provided 6,657 automobile loans to purchase vehicles from domestic automakers, totalling 23.7 billion tenge (US$69.3 million).
New cars were the most popular new vehicle purchase, accounting for more than half of official sales (51.4 percent). B-class cars were 66 percent of total car sales. The second place went to the C-class vehicles (20 percent). Off-road vehicle sales were 35 percent of total sales, with compact sport-utility vehicles the most popular among that segment, at 45.3 percent of off-road vehicle sales.
April was the biggest month for automobile sales, with 3,884 units sold. January was the worst, with 3,512 units sold. The average price of a car sold in the first half of 2016 was 5.8 million tenge (US$16,970).
The top five cars sold in Kazakhstan since the beginning of January 2016 to the end of June 2016 were the Lada Priora, the Lada Granta, the Hyundai Accent, the Kia Rio and the Lada Kalina.
The top five cars made and sold in Kazakhstan since the beginning of January 2016 to the end of June 2016 were the Lada 4×4 (812 units), the Skoda Rapid (390 units), the Kia Sportage (363 units), the Hyundai Elantra (326 units) and the Peugeot 301 (233 units).
The top five SUVs sold in the same period were the Renault Duster, the Lada 4×4, the Kia Sportage and the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
