Only six of the over 80 auto brands sold in Romania had a better year in 2010. Premium cars (those cars, which carry a price tag of at least EUR20,000) dominate the 2011 ranking by growth, while only three volume brands withstood the decline of the market, which was 14% in case of new cars last year.
The three volume brands (VW, Toyota and Hyundai) targeted both corporate clients with sales of fleets and individuals via the government-backed car scrappage scheme. Toyota posted the highest growth of such a brand, 18%, to more than 2,700 cars, while Volkswagen’s was 12% to over 8,700 cars followed by Hyundai, 4% and 2,600 units. Volkswagen was also the brand with the highest number of cars registered last year, pushing Skoda, with over 1,200 fewer cars, to second place; the Czech brand also saw 6% lower sales. Third leading imported brand was Renault, with almost 6,900 cars, down 13%, followed by Ford, 4,800 units, down 6%. Fourth, fifth and sixth among best-selling brands to have posted growth were the three German premium brands, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. They increased by 14%, 15% and 32%. “The Romanian customer used the ‘we’re too poor to buy cheap’ philosophy first of all last year. Which is why this trend on the market, where strong brands grew and others fell. Customers chose German cars because of safety and because of the resale value,” said Bogdan Florea, Volkswagen cars brand manager with Porsche Romania, the largest importer on the market. A number of 81,700 cars were registered in 2011, down 14% on the previous year, which was the second in a row when the auto market was below 100,000 units.| Brand | 2011 sales (cars) | 2010 sales (cars) | Trend (%) | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 8,734 | 7,807 | 11.9 |
| 2 | Toyota | 2,744 | 2,326 | 18.0 |
| 3 | Hyundai | 2,591 | 2,488 | 4.1 |
| 4 | BMW | 1,888 | 1,655 | 14.1 |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz | 1,578 | 1,372 | 15.0 |
| 6 | Audi | 1,478 | 1,115 | 32.6 |
| 7 | Nissan | 1,434 | 1,092 | 31.3 |
| 8 | Volvo | 421 | 301 | 39.9 |
| 9 | Land Rover | 382 | 301 | 26.9 |
| 10 | Alfa Romeo | 196 | 98 | 100 |
| 11 | MINI | 150 | 96 | 56.3 |
| 12 | Lexus | 57 | 47 | 21.3 |
| 13 | Lancia | 53 | 22 | 141 |
| 14 | Jaguar | 35 | 31 | 12.9 |
| 15 | Maserati | 12 | 7 | 71.4 |
| 16 | SsangYong | 11 | 9 | 22.2 |
| 17 | Acura | 8 | 1 | 700 |