U.S. automaker General Motors has cut prices by up to 25 percent on cars stored at Russian dealerships, two weeks after the company pulled the plug on most of its Russian operations amid a collapse in sales, newspaper Vedomosti reported Tuesday citing two unnamed dealers in contact with GM.
The discount affects around 10,000 cars evenly split between the maker's Opel and Chevrolet lines, one dealer told the paper.
GM rolled up production of its Opel line in Russia and sharply cut Chevrolet production earlier this month, citing falling sales and higher costs due to a weaker ruble.
The company did not comment when contacted by Vedomosti.
The scale of the discounts is dependent on the car models, with the Chevrolet Niva excluded from the deal. The sale will be held until May 1, but may be prolonged — given the current slow pace of sales, GM's warehouses have enough cars to supply some dealers for 8 months, one dealer said.
Russia's car market is set to shrink by up to 35 percent this year thanks to an economic downturn powered by low oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine, financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said in February.
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