Romanian car sales are 50% higher than Hungary's, after thepower balance was completely different ten years ago, namely twocars sold in Hungary for each purchased Romanian car, according tothe Automotive Importers Associations of the two countries.
Car sales in the first nine months of this year reached 101,770units on the Romanian market, down 54% from a year ago, while theHungarian market in the same interval reached a volume of 64,672units. In 2000, 133,000 cars were sold in Hungary, while a littlemore than 66,000 units were sold on the domestic market.
Per capita, however, Hungarians are still buying more cars, giventhat Romania has 22 million inhabitants, while Hungary has a littleabove ten million.
The ongoing decline of the Hungarian car market pushed many dealersto sell their business or close down, while domestically dealershave first given up showrooms located on ground floor of blocks ofapartments, where they were paying rent, and not integratedcentres.
While domestically dealers are still display the price of new carsfor sale in euros, though deals are sealed in RON, in Hungary theprices are shown in forints. Thus, whereas on the domestic marketthe RON decline against the euro has allowed dealers to offerbigger discounts, things are different in Hungary.
In western Romania there are Hungarian customers coming to Romaniandealers, and many Romanians going to car centres in Hungary.Closeness to Romania and the generally low prices of car servicingcentres have lured even Romanian clients. As the Hungarian marketposted an even steeper decline than the Romanian one in certainmonths, many car dealers across the border have offered discountsof as much as 50% to raise cash.
Once Romania joined the EU, car sales hit a peak in 2007, of over315,000 units, while Hungary reached the peak of 208,437 units in2003, ahead of integration. Also, while the Romanian market hasbeen supported by the implementation of an old car scrappage schemesince 2005, Hungary is still discussing such a programme.
Romania can be said to "match" Hungary in terms of car plants.Domestically, there is Dacia in Mioveni and Ford in Craiova, whileHungary has Suzuki and Audi. The third plant in Hungary will bebuilt by Mercedes-Benz. The company had also considered Romania asa location, but its main shortcomings were the lack ofinfrastructure and the only 300 km of highway.
In 2006, Romania for the first time in history overcame Hungary interms of GDP, reaching a level of 97bn euros, compared withHungary's 89bn-euro GDP.
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