Russian car sales rise 25pc in February

MOSCOW: Russian car sales rose a better-than-expected 25 percent year-on-year in February, the Association of European Businesses said on Sunday, as drivers took advantage of benign economic conditions to snap up new vehicles.

"The encouraging start to 2012 continues a 23 percent year to date increase is better than anticipated in the last forecast," the AEB's autos committee chairman David Thomas said in a statement.

The AEB is forecasting a 12 percent rise in 2012 car sales to 2.8 million units, close to the pre-crisis mark of 2.9 million recorded in 2008.