According to a report by ratings agency Standards & Poor's, international automakers are capitalising on the Russian market as an economic boom boosts demand for foreign cars. Sales of imported branded cars reportedly increased 61% in 2007 over the previous year to in excess of 1.6M vehicles and represented the largest portion of the market at 43%. According to the report, this is forcing Russia's domestic automakers to forge alliances with foreign automakers in order to survive their reputation for low brand image and inefficient production. It also claims that the most important source of production growth for global automakers in Russia is greenfield assembly plants on previously undeveloped sites, with companies planning to install a total additional capacity of 770,000 vehicles in Russia in the next few years from foreign greenfield plants alone.
