Russian car sales up 10 pct in June - AEB

MOSCOW, July 9 (Reuters) - Russian car sales grew 10 percent year-on-year in June, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said on Monday, maintaining the double digit growth that is expected to return the market to pre-crisis levels for the full year.

AEB said 272,125 units were sold in June - the best monthly performance since July 2008 - while first half sales for 2012 were up 14 percent year-on-year to 1.4 million units.

Western carmakers including General Motors, Ford , Renault and Fiat are investing heavily in Russia to take advantage of a market that is expected to overtake Germany as Europe's biggest some time this decade.

The AEB expects that 2.85 million cars would be sold in Russia during 2012, around 7.5 percent up on the previous year.