The “cash-for-clunkers” program prompted the sale of more than 6,200 new vehicles a week after the government rolled out the program that boosted the car industry across Europe and the United States.
“The first results are much better than some dealers had anticipated because of the government’s aggressive public relations campaign,” said Oleg Datskiv, founder of Auto-Dealer.ru, an industry research group.
The government issued 6,227 vouchers of 50,000 rubles ($1,677) each out of 200,000 allocated for the program, the Industry and Trade Ministry said on its web site. The vouchers toward new Russian-built automobiles are available to people who turn in a car more than 10 years old. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week urged Russians to take advantage of the program.
Countries around the world have introduced incentive programs to increase slumping car sales during the worst global recession since World War II. Russian new car and light vehicle sales tumbled 32 percent to 91,922 units in February from the same month last year, the Association of European Businesses said March 9 in an e-mailed statement.
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