The Romanian auto market has survived the "generation change" at Dacia and resumed the increasing trend recorded over the past two years.
In the first quarter, sales matched the level posted in the year-ago period, but the market gained 10% in the first five months of 2003 as compared to the corresponding period of 2002.
Car sales on the Romanian market reached almost 47,000 units in the first five months, up more than 10% since last year. Unlike the first four months, when imports went up and the sales of Romanian-made autos dropped, both components of the car market increased between January-May 2003.
Thus, locally-made cars (mainly Dacia and Daewoo, considering the very small sales posted by Aro or Roman) increased 6% in the above-mentioned interval, reaching almost 29,000 units. This evolution supports the statements of Dacia officials, who had estimated the launch of the Solenza model would generate more sales than SuperNova, the model it replaced. Solenza has sold more than 5,000 units since its April launch. For 2003, Dacia estimates sales to increase 25% compared to last year. Consequently, this may be the first year since its takeover by Renault when the Romanian carmaker sees a significant increase in sales. Dacia sold more than 5,500 cars in May and almost 21,000 units this year.
The other Romanian producer, Daewoo, is also selling many cars these days, with almost 7,500 units sold in the first five months of the year, accounting for a 60% increase as compared to last year. The best-selling model is Matiz, which sold 2,000 units in May (Daewoo's sales totalled 2,500 units last month).
On the other hand, imports have maintained the same growth pace for months (18-19%), a little below the level estimated by analysts at the beginning of the year - 20%. More than 4,000 imported autos were sold last month, pushing the five-month figures up to almost 18,000 units, which accounts for an 18.5% growth as compared to the year-ago period.
The best-selling imported car was Renault, with almost 3,300 units sold since the beginning of the year, after having sold 800 autos in April. Renault is followed by German make Volkswagen, with more than 2,200 units and by French car Peugeot, with almost 2,100 sold autos.
The top of the best-selling imported cars also includes Skoda (2,000 units), Ford (2,000 units), Mercedes (945 units), Fiat (917 units), Opel (850 units), Iveco (690 units) and Citroen (570 units).
The highest demand (for the imported cars) was logged by the Renault Clio model (almost 1,600 units sold this year). Skoda Octavia ranks second, with 1,100 sold cars, very close to number three - Renault Megane. The best-selling imported models also comprise Volkswagen Passat and Golf, Skoda Fabia, Peugeot 206 and 307, Opel Vectra and Ford Focus.
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