Russian car sales plunge 23% in July

Car sales plunged by nearly 23 percent last month in Russia and are down by nearly a tenth for the year to date, the Association of European Businesses said on Friday.
"Unfortunately, the contraction of the automotive market continues, picking up speed," said Joerg Schreiber, head of the AEB's automotive committee that compiles the data.
"The overall trend is worrisome, and unlikely to improve fundamentally any time soon," he added.
Just under 181,000 cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Russia last month, when tensions between Moscow and the West spiked and the European Union and United States imposed punitive sanctions.
Vehicle sales totalled 1.41 million in the first seven months of the year, a drop of 9.9 percent from the same period in 2013.
In its latest forecast released last week the AEB said it expects a 12 percent drop in car sales in Russia this year.
Schreiber said the Russian car market normally picks up after the Moscow Motor Show at the end of August.
"In any case, this is how it normally works. But what has been normal this year so far?" he said in statement.
While the direct impact of the Western sanctions has been limited, the threat of sanctions alone hit sentiment and the flight of capital out of Russia has spiked.
Russia's economy was already teetering on the brink of recession, and the IMF said last month it expects the country to post only 0.2 percent growth for the year.