Vlad Rusu, brand manager of Skoda, the second-largest imported auto brand in 2008, with 23,000 units sold, believes that not even the "Rabla" car scrappage scheme is very likely to revive the entire automotive market, estimating that sales of the entire programme will amount to one third of the allocated quota of 60,000 units.
"Under the current circumstances, no car can be sold unless the client is offered a discount. Even when offered a good price from the beginning, they still ask for a discount," says Vlad Rusu, summing up the situation on the local automotive market.
The representatives of Porsche Romania, the importer of the Skoda brand on the domestic market, believe the increase in sales in March was because of the discount campaigns, estimating the sales to revert to where they were in the first two months after they run out of stocks.
"In March we had more than 1,500 orders, almost double the number in the previous months, because of the discount campaigns conducted by dealers," Vlad Rusu explained.
Skoda’s manager says that the plan was to sell the entire stock in about two months after the start of the discount campaign, but cars sold in four weeks.
As a result of the increase in the price of loans, more cars were paid in cash than last year. "The share of those that pay cash to buy cars has gone up. Whereas 45% of the cars were bought with a loan or under a leasing contract last year, now the share has gone down to 40%," Rusu stated.
As a result of the discounts and change in the clients’ options, the average price of a Skoda car has gone down in 2009 compared with 2008.
"The average price has gone down to 12,000 euros excluding VAT this year, compared with 13,000 – 13,500 in 2008. The decline is caused by both discounts and the client’s options. For instance, sales of petrol-powered cars have increased quite a lot now, because they are cheaper, and many clients go for cheaper options," Skoda’s manager explained.
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