There is chaos in the Russian light vehicle market, with some of the fastest contractions on record. The Russian light-vehicle market posted a the highest rate of monthly contraction since the accelerated decline of 2009 of 42.5 per cent year-on-year to 139,850 units, according to the latest data set released by the Association of European Businesses (AEB).

The chairman of the AEB’s vehicle manufacturers committee blamed the pull-forward effect of the government’s scrappage scheme and the heavy price inflation. The latter is no doubt a bigger reason for the collapse as the general macroeconomic environment in Russia continues to deteriorate alarmingly as the rouble weakens and sanctions bite,