Working towards the creation of a Russian luxury brand
- At the request of the Russian government, Russian manufacturers are reported to beworking on a national luxury brand intended to competewith Mercedes, BMW and Audi.
- Three Russian manufacturers (Zil, Gaz and Marussia) should be presenting their projects to the Russian authorities by the end of the first half of 2013. Currently, Russianmanufacturersmake a few armoured saloon cars for the government, but itwouldlike to see them expand their offer so that a wider public can be reached and to compete against the Premium brands, which are mainly German.
- Sales of Premium brands have consequentlyexperienced major growth in Russia over the last few years and this grow this likely to continue over the next few years.
- Sales of Mercedes vehicles in Russiathusincreased by 30.4% in 2012 to 41 410 units, while sales of BMWs increased by 33.2% to 37 515 units, and Audi sales increased by 44.1% to 33 512 units. The marketshare of the three manufacturers in Russia reached 3.8% in 2012, as opposed to 3.1% in 2011.
