January 28, 2014. 94,394 new passenger and light commercial vehicles were sold in Yekaterinburg last year, which was 6% or 5,796 cars less than in 2012, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports.

‘8,631 automobiles were sold in Yekaterinburg in December, which was 1% or 73 cars more than in December 2012. For the second month in a row, the local automobile market kept growing. The last time the two-month market growth occurred was in early 2013 (January and February), whereupon sales kept declining every month,’ the agency’s message states.

Lada still remains the best-selling vehicle of the year in Yekaterinburg. For the second year in a row, the Russian brand’s sales keep going down, nevertheless, while its market share keeps shrinking (this stood at 13% in 2013 compared with 21% in 2010).

KIA proved the best-selling foreign car in Yekaterinburg last year. In fact, Chevrolet was the leader on the foreign cars market for three years before this, but in 2013 the brand was only the 8th best-selling car in Yekaterinburg. Toyota was No.2 in terms of local sales just like a year earlier.

‘The preferential terms car loan program has meant that Yekaterinburg market could slow down on the decline in the car sales. Some of the brands’ sales even went up after the program had been launched. For one, KIA proved the best-selling foreign car not only because of expanding its dealer network in the second half of the year but also due to the government support measures,’ says Director of Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg Mikhail Chaplygin.

The share of Yekaterinburg in the overall sales of passenger and light commercial vehicles in Russia was 3.4% in 2013 compared with 3.3% in 2012.

‘In 2014, over 100,000 cars will remain unsold again. The car market might grow a little, that is, by 1% to 2%, thanks to the low start of the first half of 2013 and thanks to the successful sales of new economy class foreign cars,’ Chaplygin’s forecast goes.