This is the lowest decline of the local market this year. The only month to see growth was April, when registrations went up by 22%.
New car registrations reached the year’s peak in July, as this was the first full month of the government-backed ‘Rabla’ clunkers program, while in 2012 it started in April.
The representatives of the Association of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA) said that the start of the program at the end of June led to a significant growth of the market. They added that unlike last year, when about 50% of the program had already been used until July and sales peaked in May-June, the most powerful impact would come in July-September.
New car registrations fell 23% in the first seven months to almost 30,300 in the first seven months.
Although the decline of the local market continues, Ford Europe’s head of sales and marketing Roelant de Waard, has recently said the European market is showing the first signs of a rebound after the euro zone exited recession. Registrations went up 9% in Europe in July, with all the major markets such as Germany, France, UK and Spain seeing increases.
Driven by the clunkers program, the sales of volume brands like Fiat, Dacia and Opel in Romania went up in July compared with the same month of 2012. Fiat saw 74% higher sales and 160 new cars registered, while Opel’s sales rose by 31% to almost 350 cars. Dacia sold 13% more cars or over 1,600 in July. Eight volume brands posted growth last month.
The start of the clunkers program came as a breath of fresh air for the car dealers outside Bucharest, whose customers are 70% to 80% individuals.
As for premium brands, only Mercedes-Benz sold more cars, 186 (up 8%), while BMW’s sales dropped 26% to 135 cars and Audi’s by 42% to 113.
Only 13 car brands announced an increase in the number of cars registered in July, eight of which volume brands, precisely those likely to be influenced by the clunkers program.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)