This development comes after the sales in July and August, when, following the announcement of the suspension of the ‘Rabla’ (clunker) scheme, dealers resorted to discounts to reduce inventories after nearly half a year of waiting.
The 2025 clunker scheme started at the beginning of the week with a lower budget, but with an immediate impact on demand, as vouchers for cars running on gas sold out in a matter of minutes. The total budget was cut from RON600 million to RON200 million, but demand proved to be huge: vouchers for regular cars sold out in just 13 minutes after the session opened.
Only those for electric cars remained available, as the eco-voucher for these vehicles was cut to RON18,500 or about EUR3,500.
In all, 12,409 new cars were registered in September, 39% more than in September 2024, when about 8,900 were registered.
This is one of the highest monthly volumes this year, in a context where total registrations in the first nine months of 2025 stood at 108,067 units, 5.1% below the level in the year-ago period.
Dacia continues to be the undisputed market leader, with 4,124 cars registered in September, representing one third of the total market. Behind it are Renault (1,139 units), Toyota (1,047), Skoda (896), and Hyundai (690). Volkswagen dropped to sixth place, with 660 units.
In the model ranking, Logan remains the most registered car in Romania, with 1,743 units, followed by Duster (931), Sandero (774), and Clio (512). The new Bigster, which has been available for several months, already ranks fifth, with 401 units.
Fully electric cars recorded a 52% increase in September compared with the previous year, accounting for 6% of the market. The increase comes at a time when financial support for their purchase has been reduced, which shows that buyer interest is stabilizing even in the absence of record incentives.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)