Premium car sales go up twice faster than the market

Premium cars, with prices that start from over 20,000 euros, went up twice as fast as the market, despite volumes being half what they were in the same period of 2008.

The premium market recorded an over 30% increase in the first two months of this year, according to statistics of players on the car market, to nearly 700 units. Cars in the upper price segment therefore approached the growth rates of commercial utility vehicles, which, in the same period, climbed by around 50%, to 2,000 units.

"Sales in the premium segment will see an even higher growth rate in March, though not sufficiently high to justify market optimism," said Viorel Niculescu, who controls Jaguar Land Rover ATT dealer and who between 1992 and 2005 was general manager of Romcar, former importer of Ford on the Romanian market, part of Ţiriac Holding.

The best-selling premium brand in the first two months of the year was Audi, with 230 cars, up nearly 60% on the similar period of last year, followed by BMW, with 172 cars, down 8%, and Mercedes-Benz, which almost doubled its sales.