Last year the local auto market was a bit strange, believes Marco Schulz, general manager of BMW Group Romania, the importer of the BMW and Mini brands with more than EUR110 million in yearly revenue. That was because the first half was good, the company posted growth and then the growth stopped. Last year was a difficult year.
“If we look at our partners, the leu volatility did not really help either and the political situation did not help at all,” Schulz said, adding that the electoral campaign had a powerful impact too.
Sales of cars fell by 17% in the first six months of 2012 to almost 36,000 units. BMW sales were up almost 21% to about 1,000 units, Audi’s were up 33% to over 1,000 cars and Mercedes-Benz sold 15% more cars, i.e. 850.
The market decline became even more serious in the second half and reached almost 25% at the end of the year, while BMW’s growth fell to 7% to about 2,200 cars, and Audi’s returned to second place with 1,900 cars and 19% growth. Mercedes-Benz came out third gain, with almost 1,600 cars, up 2%.
As a foreigner, he had to learn that elections and political problems have a significant impact on the economy. “In Germany, we’ve never imagined elections could have such an impact on the economy,” Marco Schulz said.
The economy needs quiet to develop now, he believes. It does not necessarily matter how high the taxes are but how stable the economy is for companies to adjust their plans. The problems only occur when the government changes taxes very fast, BMW Group Romania’s boss explained.
Marco Schulz says the premium market performance is connected to the trend of the Gross Domestic Product, which rose by about 0.2% last year, according to the National Forecast Commission.
He expects growth for BMW sales and for the premium segment, while the overall market will probably be flat.
Another peculiarity of Romania is, the local BMW boss says, how much of the total sales are made to corporate buyers from small to very large companies, while the individual customer segment is flat at best.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)