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Romanian car market advances in August for 14th consecutive month
The sales of new cars on the Romanian market stood at 7,455 units in August 2014, up by 17% from the same month of last year, and thus 14 months of consecutive growth have been recorded from the same months a year earlier, according to the data released on Wednesday by the Association of Car Makers and Importers /APIA/.
The cumulative volume of sales in the first eight months of 2014 stood at 64,474 units, up by 29.2% compared to the same period in 2013, an advance due mainly to cars that recorded an increase by 29.7% (+35.7% - the domestic ones and +27.2% - the imported ones).
From January to August 2014, used car registrations decreased by some 5.5% (8,300 units) compared to the same period in 2013. Their number - over 139,000 units in 2014 - remains high compared to that of new cars (around three times higher), although on the decrease compared to the situation in 2013 (when in the first eight months the ratio was 4 used car to a new one).
The national car production total, eight months into 2014, a volume of 252,119 units, by 8.4% down from the same period in 2013. Of this total, 213,559 units (85%) were produced by Dacia, 38,555 (14.8%) by Ford and five units by Roman Brasov.
The largest production volumes were recorded by the Dacia Duster (101,637 units, of which 2,152 in August), followed by the Dacia Logan (55,571 units, of which only 776 units in August), Ford B-MAX (38,555 units, of which 2,034 in August 2034), Dacia Sandero (30,032 units) and Dacia Logan MCV (26,319 units).
Exports in August 2014 stood at 4,304 units, and the first eight months - 232,171 units, down by 2.2% from the same period in 2013. The best-exported model was Dacia Duster - by 96,493 units, followed by Logan, 46,405 units, and Ford B-MAX, by 38,376 units.
In terms of the car makes sold on the domestic market, the best-selling ones in the first eight months of 2014 were Dacia, with 17,792 units sold (33.1% of total), followed by Volkswagen (5,491 units / 10.2%), Skoda (5,042 units / 9.4%), Ford (3,741 units / 7%), Renault (3,635 units / 6.8%) and Opel (2433 units / 4.5%).
In terms of car models, the Dacia Logan was the best-selling model in August (but also in the first eight months of 2014), followed by the Dacia Sandero, Dacia Duster, Skoda Octavia and Volkswagen Golf.
According to the APIA, these rising sale volumes do not mean automatically also an increase in turnovers, taking into account the data released by the National Statistics Institute (INS). According to the INS, the increase in turnover in motor vehicle trade after the first seven months of 2014 was only 6% compared to the same period in 2013, versus an increase by 32% in the number of motor vehicles sold during the reference period.
Moreover, the number of new cars registered in Romania in the first eight months is by some 15% lower than the sales made.