New vehicle sales, up 20% in Romania in first nine months

Close to 135,000 new vehicles were sold in Romania in the first nine months of this year, up by 20% compared to the same period of 2017. Meanwhile, used vehicle sales declined by 8.3%, to 347,000 units. New passenger car sales increased by 22.3% compared to the first nine months of 2017, to 113,700 units, while commercial vehicle sales were up 9.7%, to 21,100 units. The top-selling brands, including both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, were Dacia, with 38,200 units sold, followed by Volkswagen (12,458 units), Ford (10,222 units), Renault (10,184) and Skoda (9,923). Domestic car sales, which include the cars produced at the two local factories, Dacia and Ford, increased by 35.3% in the first nine months, reaching almost 35,000 units. Meanwhile, import car sales went up by 17.3%, to 78,700 units. Petrol cars reached a share of over 60% in the overall sales, up from 51% in the first nine months of 2017. Meanwhile, diesel cars declined to 36.8%. Electric and hybrid car sales totaled over 2,900 units, representing 2.6% of the total market. Romania sees biggest drop in new car registrations in EU in September editor@romania-insider.com