One in two cars sold this year was state-subsidised

The state has spent over 166 million euros on the "Rabla" vehicle scrappage scheme this year, over five times more than in 2009 and ten times more than in 2007, the last year of car sales rise before the economic crisis.
This year's car scrappage scheme saw over 55,000 cars sold, according to statistics of the Environmental Fund, using 164,503 vouchers. Over 55% of 100,000 cars sold on the Romanian market in the first 11 months of this year were accounted for by the scrappage scheme.
From the end of February until November 24th, the last day when cars could be scrapped, more than 182,100 cars older than 10 years were brought to scrappage centres, and the same number of vouchers were issued. This means the state has invested over 166 million euros in the Romanian car market this year, according to ZF calculations that consider a 3,800-RON scrappage bonus.