Car sales in Lithuania bouncing back to pre-crisis levels

Car sales in Lithuania are growing and has almost reached the levels before the 2008 downturn.

In all, 86,000 cars were sold in Lithuania between January and March, 6.3% more than during the same period last year.

Sales of new cars grew even more, 5,300 deals or 20% more year-on-year.

Mantas Buzelis, development head at the autoplius.lt classified ad portal, says that Lithuanians have been increasingly favouring new cars over second-hand vehicles.

“A year ago, there were 5.9 used cars sold per each new vehicle, whereas this year the ration is 4.9 to one,” Buzelis has told vz.lt.

He notes that prices of both new and used cars grew last year following the adoption of the euro, but have stabilized now. Used cars are about 10.8% more expensive now, compared to a year ago, while the prices of new cars have grown 2.4% on average.

Still, new cars make up only 6.2% of the market in Lithuania. Used cars up to 5 years old make up 8.9% of all deals while vehicles between 11 and 15 years old are still the most popular with Lithuanian buyers, accounting for 29.9% of the market.