Bicycles could outsell cars three to one in 2010

Bicycles have been gaining ground lately, with players in the field expecting an at least 20% sales increase this year, which could bring the market to 300,000 units in 2010, according to ZF calculations.

So, for the first time, bikes could outsell cars three to one amid expectations for the auto market to contract again this year, to 100,000 units.

With the financial crisis is emptying Romanians' pockets and leaving them unable to afford cars any more, while globalisation and global warming are turning bikes into a fashion, increasingly more Romanians are going into specialist stores to buy a bike.

Around 250,000 bicycles were sold in Romania last year, according to estimates of DHS, one of the leading manufacturers of bicycles in Romania, controlled by Chinese and German investors. At an average price of 100-150 euros per bike, as estimated by ZF, the market could be worth somewhere between 25 million euros and 37 million euros.

Unlike the automotive market, where the crisis was deeply felt and the 55% decline brought the market back to the 2003 level, the bicycle market has been not been hurt by recession that much.