“Customers are more and more interested in equipping their car with safety systems. Whereas in 2007 no one cared whether the car had ABS or not, now more and more people are choosing additional features such as knee airbags and pre-crash safety systems,” says Bogdan Florea, brand manager Volkswagen cars with Porsche Romania.
“Now cars equipped with optional features designed to improve safety account for at least 20% of our sales.”
Volkswagen is the best-selling imported car brand in Romania, with 3,377 cars delivered in the first five months of 2015, 13% more than in the year-ago period.
The rise in the average price best showed in the sales of the new Passat, whose average price was almost 17% higher than that of the previous generation cars.
“The average price of Passat increased because of the new top-of-the line 2.0 liter 240 HP twin-turbo diesel engine version and because of more customers choosing more options for their cars compared with the previous generation. The price increased from EUR24,000 to EUR28,000 excluding VAT.”
The company estimated to deliver 60 units of this new twin-turbo model, but actually delivered 130 units so far this year. The starting price of this particular model is EUR41,400 including VAT, considering it is only available as the top-of-the-line trim with the 4Motion four-wheel drive system.
“We are seeing a moderate optimism on the market now. Things are going well. We are also seeing a price increase of the Polo and the Tiguan compact SUV. Fleet and retail sales volumes have gone up. It’s an overall growth trend.”
Volkswagen estimates a 95,000 car sales volume for the entire market this year, up from the 82,000 sold last year, its first year of growth after 2007.
Even so, the market is far from the over 315,000-unit peak of 2007.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)