Figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) for new car registrations in both March and this year's first quarter show an overall fall on the same periods in 2011, while Romania recorded positive results. According to ACEA, registrations in 2012 Q1 dropped by some 7.7 percent compared to the first quarter in 2011 on average in the EU. Romania, however, recorded very positive results that should cheer the local motor trade. New car registrations were up 44.3 percent in Q1 2012 against Q1 2011 – the biggest increase in Europe, with the exception of Iceland.

Compared to other regional EU states, Romania's new car registration growth was the highest, ahead of Hungary and Bulgaria and others. Overall, the newer EU members performed better than the rest of Europe, but there were large discrepancies between the big Western European car markets. Germany and the UK for example, recorded around 1 percent increases against the same quarter in 2011, while France and Italy posted 20 percent plus drops.

When considering the results, it is important to remember that the size of the EU's car markets varies greatly. Germany, the UK, France and Italy all recorded more than 500,000 new car registrations in Q1 2012, while Romania recorded a little over 13,000. Romania's car market is relatively very small. despite having the seventh biggest population in the EU, the total number of car registrations is one of the EU's lowest.

The Netherlands, with around 5 million fewer inhabitants than Romania, recorded over 166,000 new car registrations in the first quarter of 2012. The rate of growth has been excellent, but Romania's car market must have a long, long way to go, given the size of its population. Considering the size of the local market, anything less than double digit growth could not be considered an achievement for Romania.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com