Inhabitants of counties with above-average incomes are buyingupper price segment cars such as Volkswagen, Skoda or Ford, whileRenault has won over regions with lower wages.
Volkswagen leads in Transylvanian counties, with Renault closebehind it, while in Muntenia and in counties of Moldova Renaultclearly leads in terms of imports in the first ten months of thisyear, according to statistical data provided by the Association ofAutomotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA).
ZF has centralised data referring to the best selling car brandin each county and has only taken into account sales of newimported cars.
Against last year, in counties such as Bacau or MaramuresRenault dethroned VW. The same situation occurred in severalcounties, with upper price segment brands being replaced by moreaffordable ones.
"It could only be expected that Renault would take VW's placeamong the best selling brands because of its lower prices," saysNicolae Sorescu, manager with Radacini Motors, Opel and Chevroletdealer.
Ford, the second biggest carmaker domestically, retained theleading positions in terms of import brands in Timis and Satu Marecounties.
On the other hand, in Bucharest it was Hyundai that boasted thebiggest sales, with 6,845 units, followed by Kia with 5,004 andFord with 3,837. In 2008, Hyundai and Kia were not among the threebest-selling brands.
In terms of overall sales, the best-selling brand, in allcounties, was Dacia, both in 2008 and 2009, except Brasov, whereSkoda outran the domestic carmaker in 2008. The wealthiest countiesof Romania generally opted for German brands, except Bucharest.
In Bucharest, where the average wage will climb to 511 eurosthis year from 460 euros in 2008, over five more new cars than usedones were registered and over four times in the first half of theyear.
At the same time, in the Western part of the country, thoughincomes are above the national average, there is also a high numberof people buying used cars from the West.
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