Overall auto sales, including commercial vehicles and buses, increased 48.6% to 10,531 in April, from 7,086 units a month earlier. Compared with April 2011, overall auto sales rose 12%, the data showed.
In January through April, new passenger car sales fell 11.8% on the year to 20,482 units. Overall auto sales reached 24,597 units, down 12% on the year.
“Given the disappointing results for the first four months of 2012, we have revised downward our forecast for the full year sales to around 92,000 vehicles, from 117,000 vehicles previously,” APIA said in a statement.
The weak results in January through April came on the backdrop of an ineffective management of Romania’s car scrapping program, as well as of the bad economic climate, APIA noted.
In 2011, Romanian auto sales fell 11% on the year to 94,624 units.