The BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, and China were long seen as the saviors of the world, especially when it comes to cars:  large population, very few cars per head, a strong growth. Then 2008 came around, the oil prices dropped, and Russia nearly imploded. Russia was taken off the BRIC list, leaving a BIC behind. If you take a hard look at it, it’s a C, with a BI as future growth market. Now suddenly, the BRIC is back.

The Russian new car market, for long a basket case, is growing by leaps and bounds. In July, Russians bought 48 percent more cars than in June, report Automobilwoche [sub].

And they are not buying econoboxes: “We are undersupplied in Russia,” says Audi’s sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer. Ric h Russians suddenly are back buying big bore cars with all the options. In the first seven months, Audi sold 27 percent more cars in Russia than in the same period of 2009. Automobilwoche expects that the Russian car market will be more than 3 million units in 2015, about the size of Germany. Last year, it was half of that.