The decline worsened last month, with registrations in May falling by almost 50% on the same month of 2012 to 4,100 units. This was due to the clunkers program, which started in April in 2012, while in 2013 it began as late as June.
Whereas the higher sales of April 2012 already showed in the number of registrations in May, the delay of the scheme this year made consumers wait, and corporate customers generated 80% to 90% of the car sales, companies in the automotive business say.
Out of the 50 brands registered in Romania this year, only 13 saw an increase, while 32 saw decline. Hyundai was the only volume brand among those that posted growth, although its sales only rose by less than 1% to almost 1,050 cars.
Luxury cars witnessed the highest growth, 150%, but sales volumes were very low, going from two to five cars (Bentley and Ferrari). Jeep, Mazda and Honda posted two-digit growth.
The only carmakers on the premium segment to have seen a rise in sales were Jaguar, up 56% to 25 cars and Mercedes, up almost 7% to 739 units. BMW and Audi posted 12% and 16% decline in registrations in the first five months. BMW, however, remained on the top spot with 770 registrations.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)