Cars more expensive as stocks vanish

Car prices have been rising in the past two months as dealers of volume brands have seen their stocks shrink and discounts have implicitly dwindled, according to market players. "The discount policy has been wrong from the very start. Cars are not selling because there are no discounts, but because there’s a financing crunch," stated Viorel Niculescu, former head of Romcar, Ford importer in Romania. While in H1 discounts went as far as over 40% for SUVs and limos, now they have slumped below 20% or have even vanished. For instance, Audi dealers sold the compact SUV Q5 at a special price of 31,151 euros (VAT included) in June, but as their stocks thinned the price rose to 40,460 euros and the discount shrank. The same trend was noticed in the case of Mercedes-Benz A and B Klasse models, which in June benefited from a discount of as much as 4,000 euros plus VAT that has now dropped to 2,850 and 2,540 euros, respectively. According to statements by Brent Valmar, vice-president of the Association of Car Producers and Importers, car prices have never been and will never be as low as they were in the first half of the year. In the second half, dealers are set to focus on investments, and no longer on raising cash.