Passenger car sales in Romania increased by almost 22% in August compared to the same month of 2014, to 7,245 units, after the market stagnated in July. The sales for the first eight months of the year reached 61,500 units, up by 14.3% compared to the same period of 2014, according to data released by the Romanian Car Manufacturers and Importers Association – APIA.

Domestic passenger car sales went up by 40% in August, to 1,772 units, and by 23% in the first eight months, to almost 20,500 units. These include the Dacia models produced at Mioveni, and Ford B-Max model produced at Craiova.

Imported passenger car sales increased by 16.6% in August compared to August last year, to 5,473 units, passing the 41,000 mark in the first eight months (up by 10.1% year-on-year).

Local brand Dacia maintained its first position in terms of sales, with almost 2,000 cars sold in August and 21,800 units in the first eight months (up by 22.4% y-o-y).

Volkswagen sold over 6,200 new passenger cars in the first eight months, up by 13.3% year on year, and Skoda came third, with 5,500 cars sold, up by 9.1%. Ford, Renault and Opel were next in terms of sales.

About 54% of all passenger cars sold in the first eight months in Romania were diesel, 45.5% were petrol, and only 0.4% (272 cars) were electric or hybrid.

Commercial vehicle sales increased by a third (31.8%) in the first eight months, to 12,830 units.

Romanian car market growth comes to a halt in July

editor@romania-insider.com