MOSCOW, - Car imports in Russia grew very fast in the first quarter of 2005, said Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko.

"This is true about both new and used cars," he said on Thursday, speaking at the government meeting devoted to the concept of the Russian car industry development in the mid-term.

Sales of domestic-made cars fell from 232,000 in the first quarter 2004 to 200,000 in Q1 this year, while sales of new foreign cars almost doubled, from 46,000 to 80,000, he said. Sales of used foreign cars were up from 63,000 to 90,000.

The trend has sustained for a few years, the minister said. "Most of the sales growth was due to the influx of new cheap foreign-made cars, mainly from South Korea," he explained.

According to the ministry, car imports in 2004 equaled 525,000 cars, of which 346,000 were new cars. "As a result, the share of imported cars on the Russian market has amounted to 60% in value terms," he said.

The Russian government expects imports of new cars to amount to 400,000-500,000 by 2010 and domestic production to reach 1-1.1 million cars annually, he announced.

The government should take measures to implement the target forecast of the car industry development in the country, to create additional jobs and introduce new technologies, Khristenko emphasized.

There is also an inertial forecast, under which most of the demand will be met by imports, he added.

If this forecast comes true, by 2010 car imports will achieve 1-1.1 million annually and will be equal to the current output of Russian plants. "This will help to stall all the negative trends in the [Russian] car-making industry," he said.

The minister welcomed foreign participation in Russian assembly plants.

"I will not conceal that we are happy to see the examples of Toyota, GM, Renault and Ford - investors who have announced their plans for the lineup, as they will take the price niches where most of the imports go now," he said.

For example, Toyota intends to build facilities to both supply cars to the domestic market and export them outside Russia. The project envisages not only assembling, but also production of components. "These are positive signals," the minister underlined.

He said he hoped that "this good beginning" would be supported by such auto giants and Daimler-Chrysler and Volkswagen and that the existing assembling plants would not lag behind.