MOSCOW, July 3 /TASS/. The Association of European Businesses (AEB) has raised its forecast for sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in 2024 by 12% to 1.45 mln cars, the association said in a statement.

"Taking into account various economic, regulatory, political factors and, assuming that sanctions and other pressure will remain at the same level until the end of the year, the Automobile Manufacturers Committee updates its forecast for 2024 at the level of 1.45 mln sold new cars," the statement said.

Back in January, the AEB predicted the growth of the Russian car market in 2024 at 1.3 mln cars.

The association noted that "the main source of the market growth continues to be the import of new cars. However, due to the ongoing and planned launch of production, in the future the share of imports will decrease, as we already observed in the past, during the period of active localization of foreign manufacturers. It is also worth noting that, in general, the volume of cars imported through alternative sources is practically not growing. And its share dropped to 18% in the first half of the year."

"On the demand side, while remains at a fairly high level, despite quite wide offers, there is no increase in traffic in dealer centers. One of the reasons for this is the high cost of loans due to the Central Bank’s continuing high key rate," the AEB said.

According to the association, the Russian car market in the first half of the year grew by 74.5% to 747,800 cars and light commercial vehicles. In June, sales of new cars amounted to 130,700 vehicles (+49.6%).