Romania 7-month car sales down 20.5 percent y-o-y

Romanians bought 50,003 new passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the first seven months of this year, down 18.5 percent y-o-y, according to the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA).

The association says the crisis that the local car market is going through deepens, and the situation calls for measures to stimulate the acquisition of new vehicles. Romanian new car sales have dropped by 76 percent between January 2008 and July 2012, while the EU average is 20 percent, says APIA. by

“It is true that the car market reports record drops in other EU states (Portugal, Greece, Italy, France) but these drops come after two years – 2010 and 2011 – when these market were relatively stable,” reads the association’s press release.

New passenger car sales fell 20.5 percent between January and July this year totaling 41,553. Dacia ranks the first position in the top of the best sold brands with 11,006 cars sold, representing 26.5 percent of the total figure, followed by Volkswagen (4.745 units, 11.4 percent), Skoda (3,958 units, 9,5 percent), Renault (2,787 units, 6.7 percent), Ford (2,727 units, 6,6 percent) and Hyundai (1.778 units, 4.3 percent).

Vehicle exports increased by 7 percent in the first seven month of this year (y-o-y) totaling 192,046 units out of which 181,941 were passenger cars (up 10.1 y-o-y) and the 10,105 were commercial vehicles (down 28. 7 y-o-y).

While sales of new cars decreased, second-car sales have gone up by 76.4 for passenger cars (totaling 89,261) and by 63.4 percent for commercial vehicles (totaling 23,988 units).

As the market continues to drop, APIA calls for efficient fiscal measures to stimulate the acquisition of new vehicles against second-hand ones.