Sales of new cars in Ukraine reduced by 7.4% to 201,566 in 2013, compared with 217,581 million in 2012, the Interfax Ukraine has reported, citing the AUTO-Consulting group.

"Thus, 2013 was a year of crisis and dwindling sales for the car market,” experts with the group said on its website.

As reported, the volume of the automobile market declined by 1.4 % in in 2012 compared with the previous year.

According to AUTO-Consulting, dealers sold 16,209 new cars in December 2013, which was 1.5% more than they sold in November but 16% fewer than they sold in December 2012.

"Sales of new cars in December were the worst in the past four years, with a figure lower than 12,000 cars registered only in December 2009," the experts said.

According to the experts, the balance of power on the automobile market was changed significantly by the special duty on imported cars with petrol engines of 1-2.2 liters and the recycling tax on all imported vehicles, which were introduced in April and September respectively.

The share of cars with diesel engines increased with the introduction of the special duty, exceeding 20% by the end of the year.

In addition, these measures were motivating factors for Ukrainian automakers. In particular, the Bogdan automobile plant (Cherkassy) resumed operation, Ukrainian trolleybuses began to be delivered to the European Union for the first time, and assembling of several models was resuscitated. The biggest achievement was the start of full-scale production of JAC vehicles at the Bogdan automobile plant.

"However, apart from purely automotive issues, the car market was dependent on political decisions in 2013. The most important event of the year was the non-signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, since the agreement on free trade also provided for liberalization of the automobile legislation,” said AUTO-Consulting.

At the same time, Ukraine signed with Russia supplementary agreements that again include automotive issues. "It is not yet entirely clear how they will work, but judging by the signed papers there will be no heavy pressure on Ukrainian exporters for now,” the experts said.

In late December, experts with All-Ukrainian Association of Automobile Importers and Dealers (VAAID) suggested that the volume of the Ukrainian car market could reach about 203,000 in 2013 (6.7% lower than the volume in 2012).