Nov 16 (Reuters) - Russia's top carmaker Avtovaz said on Wednesday that car sales across the Russian market were likely to fall by 670,000-700,000 units this year, the RIA news agency reported.
New car sales slumped 62.8% year-on-year in October, data showed last week, as falling consumer demand and sentiment and the effect of Western sanctions quashed what had seemed to be the beginnings of a relative recovery in the embattled sector.
Last year, before the latest round of sweeping Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, 1.67 million cars were sold in Russia. This compares to around 3 million units a year in the 2000s. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
