Remember the BRIC countries, saviors of the auto industry? Brazil, Russia, India, China.  Brazil (+11.35 percent,) India (+18.7 percent) and especially China (+45 percent) performed as advertised. But Russia? Russia’s car 2009 car sales are such a disaster that BRIC will stay BIC for the foreseeable future.

Russia’s new car sales tanked by 49 percent in 2009 to just 1,465,917 units, according to data of the Association of European Businesses in the Russian Federation. (Read More…)

Official Kraftfahrtbundesamt data are uncharacteristically late. But Dow Jones Newswire (via Finanznachrichten.de) has it from two reliable sources that Germany’s new car market rose to 3.8m units in 2009, which would be an increase of 23 percent if it pans out. According to the report, Germans bought 3.8m units in 2009, in 2008 it was 3.09m units.
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Ford’s Chinese joint venture with Changan sold 316,139 units in 2009, up 54.5 percent from a year earlier, Reuters reports. In December alone, sales were up 61.4 percent from a year earlier. After GM China reported a 67 percent increase for the year yesterday, all indicators point to a strong finish for the Chinese market. Numbers will be announced by the end of the week. Chinese unit sales are expected to be in the 13.5m neighborhood for the year, up 44 percent.

Elsewhere in Europe, first data releases point to a strong December there also: France up 48.6 percent, Spain up 25.1 percent, Italy up 16.73 percent, Belgium up 21.12 percent.

U.S. auto sales are due today and are expected to come in at around 10.5 – 11m units for the year.

Refer to TTAC’s roundup of 2009 sales data for a continuously updated roundup of 2009 sales data from around the world.