Lithuanian vehicle logistics company UAB Kapratas has received the first shipment of new cars at its 50,000m2 Autocentrum A5 storage facility in Marijampole.
As part of a one year contract the 300 Kia vehicles were transported from the Korean carmaker’s plant in Zilina, Slovakia and are destined for dealerships in the Baltic region. They included Kia Sportage, Cee'd and Procee'd models. Future plans will see the number of vehicles using the facility to 1,000 says the company and Kapratas is in negotiation with other major manufacturers.
The centre is next to the international Helsinki-Warsaw highway, 2km from Marijampole and provides a wide range of services including new and used car storage, insurance and registration as well as exhibition, sales and guaranteed maintenance of new and used cars, agricultural machinery, equipment and devices.
Although the market is tiny, Lithuania is one of Europe’s fastest growing automotive markets. In 2007 new vehicle registrations were up 46.3 per cent to over 31,800 units, and car sales up 56.3 per cent. Moreover, while new registrations were down by an estimated 37 per cent in neighbouring Latvia in the first 10 months of this year, and down 16.7 per cent in Estonia, Lithuania saw an increase of 13.7 per cent.
