According to companies, car sales returned to growth in February, to 4,500-5,000 units, about 20% more than in the same month last year.
The growth was not brought about by a clunkers program this February. There was no clunkers program running last February, either.
Moreover, according to a ZF analysis, most volume brands did not wait for the clunkers program to start and began offering discounts to compensate for the EUR2,700 cut the government offered via the three vouchers.
As for registrations, more than 4,100 cars were registered last month, up 27% on the same time last year. February is the second month of growth in this respect, after registrations surged by 86% in January.
The government approved the 2012 clunkers program, though with a budget that is only enough for 30,000 vouchers or 10,000 cars, considering the last two years’ average was almost three tickets per new car purchased via this program.
In comparison, the number of cars older than ten years scrapped in 2010 stood at almost 190,000 and at nearly 120,000 in 2011. To avoid another year of car sales decline, the government should boost the number of vouchers to at least 120,000 in 2012.
Sales in January and February were mostly made to companies, as individuals preferred to wait for the clunkers program to start to get the discount it offers, said Thomas Dubruel, general manager of Renault Commercial Roumanie, the company that handles the sales of Dacia, Renault and Nissan on the local market.
Market sources say that there was hardly any car sold to individual customers in January, while in February individuals bought only 300, despite discounts of as much as EUR5,000 offered some volume brands.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)