The outlook for the Russian car market remains difficult even if the pace of falling sales slowed sharply last month, a trade group said Tuesday.
Car sales have dropped due to weakness in the $2 trillion economy. The Association of European Businesses, a lobby of Europe's top automakers, has cut its 2013 sales forecast to 2.8 million vehicles, a 5 percent fall.
The AEB said car sales in September fell five percent year-on-year, after a fall of 10 percent in the previous month.
It said 246,895 units were sold in September.
"The average temperature in the hospital is improving, but the patient as a whole is still far from being well," said Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee.