For the first time in Dacia’s Renault “era”, the Logan model no longer ranks first among the best-selling cars on the Romanian market, being outranked by the Duster SUV by more than 130 cars, according to statistics of the Car Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA). Last year Duster was no. 2 by sales after Logan, but ahead of import models.
Duster takes over as the best-selling brand after the clunkers scheme, which helps Logan sell the most cars, was not operational in the first two months of the year. A Duster costs around EUR15,000 on the Romanian market on average, while the Logan sells for around EUR7,500.
“In the almost two years since its launch, Duster has proven to be a very reliable car. This counted a lot, especially in February of this year, when many roads were closed,” said Constantin Stroe, vice-president of Automobile Dacia. Stroe says he is not at all happy with the low volumes of the two models, and that Duster and Logan exchanged positions only temporarily, until the market returns to growth.”
In February, 468 Dusters were sold in Romania, 30% more than in the same month of 2011, while the number of sold Logans reached 333, down 15% on the year.
While in Romania Duster and Logan were neck and neck, the latter helped by its low price, at European level Duster dominates Dacia sales, accounting for 50% of production and exports of Dacia’s local plant.
So, while Logan sedan has reached around 700,000 units in eight years of production, Duster has produced nearly 300,000 units after less than two years.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)