‘Our sales have been plummeting since this May, with an average drop of 50% and the main reason for this being the continuing troubles involved in getting a car loan,’ ASMOTO SLAVIA car sales center Managing Director Dmitriy Usachev said to an UrBC reporter.

‘The problem is that the state subsidies scheme that helps to cover the loan interest rates is not very efficient at the moment. Of all Skoda makes, for example, only Fabia got on the program, whereas the rest of the models, even those within the required 600,000-ruble price range, still haven’t made it to the list. This is an obvious shortcoming of this state scheme,’ he added.

‘In the third quarter of the year, further problems might spring up: forecasts say the sales will probably be anything but impressive. If the subsidies do grow functional, however, the market could get a bit livelier,’ Usachev hopefully observed.