OREANDA-NEWS. According to the Association of European Business, sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in December fell by 2.4% to 270,653 cars. For the whole 2014 the Russian car market fell by 10.3% to 2, 491, 404 vehicles.

As the AEB noted, 2014 was marked by a strong finish, though with a cumulative volume loss of 10%, it will remain a year of disappointment for the Russian automotive industry. In the face of a looming recession the expectations for 2015 are even lower, says in the association. According to the forecast of AEB, in 2015 the Russian car market will be 1,890,000 cars, which is less by 24% than the last year.

Leadership in the Russian car market is kept by AvtoVAZ, which sold 387,307 vehicles the last year, which is less by 15% than a year ago. Second place in terms of sales was occupied by KIA - sales of 195691 cars (-1%) for the first time provided a Korean brand with the leadership in the market of foreign cars for the year. Thus, Renault dropped to the third place with an index of 194 531 sold cars (-7%). Fourth place was kept by Hyundai - cars of the brand were chosen by 179,631 buyers (-1%). Nissan closes "five" of leaders at this time, it sold 162,010 cars (+ 11%). The Top-10 of best-selling brands at the end of 2014 also included Toyota (161 954 units, + 5%), Volkswagen (128 071 units, -18%), Chevrolet (123 175 units, -29%), Skoda (84437 units, -3%) and Mitsubishi (80134 units, + 2%).