New car sales in Romania see second largest decline in the EU in April

New passenger car registrations in Romania were down 5.9 percent in April, to 4,932 units, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA). Of the 28 countries in the European Union (EU), only The Netherlands posted a higher drop in car sales, of 6.3 percent. Car sales in the EU grew by 4.6 percent, to 1.089 million units. Romania, a country of 21 million people currently has some of the weakest car sales. Its 4,900 units sold in April are lower than those in Hungary (5,500 units sold) or Slovakia (6,000 units sold). Hungary has a population of 9.9 million people while Slovakia has only 5.4 million people. Slovenia, a country with a population of 2.06 million, ten times smaller than that of Romania, had almost 4,900 cars sold in April as well. In Germany, the largest car market in the EU, sales declined by 3.6 percent in April, to 274,100 units. Germany stands for more than a quarter of total new car sales in the EU. In the first four months of the year, Romania’s new car sales grew by 10.9 percent, to 18,277 units, due to better sales in the first quarter, while EU total car sales were up 7.4 percent to 4.336 million. Read the full report here. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com (photo source: ACEA)