17 car brands end 2010 on the rise, signalling market rebound

Autor: Bogdan Alecu 23.01.2011

Car sales recorded an around 19% decline in 2010, according to statistics of the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA), to nearly 120,000 units, with the rate of decline being almost three times lower than the 2009 one.

However, the volume of sales sends the car market back in time, to the 2003 level. In addition to new car sales, over 240,000 second-hand cars were registered on the Romanian market, with Romanians paying 1.7 billion euros for cars last year, according to ZF estimates.

In all, 17 brands ended last year with rising sales, with 21 car brands up in December, whereas at the end of 2009 no car brand recorded growth on the Romanian market.

Dacia continued to be the best-selling new Romanian car, while the import market saw Volkswagen return to the top position of the ranking, with 10,038 cars, down 8% on the previous year, being in the only import brand to exceed 10,000 units in 2010.

In comparison, in 2007, the last year of growth for the Romanian car market, Renault was the first import brand that managed to sell over 30,000 cars on a market that amounted to 370,000 cars.