New car registrations in Romania climbed to 70,172 units in 2014, from 57,710 in 2013.
Portugal was the highest growing market in the EU last year, with 34.8%, to 142,827 units, followed by Ireland, with 29.6% growth to 96,344 units, and Croatia, with 22.3% growth in new car registrations, to 33,997 units, according to data released Friday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).
Similar in growth rates to Romania, Greece had a 21.3% growth in new car registrations last year, to 71,218 units, and Hungary grew 20.2%, to 67,476 units.
In the EU, new car sales grew 5.7% last year, to 12.5 million units, the first growth since 2007, after six years of decline, boosted by growth on major auto markets in Europe .
Spain grew 18.1%, the UK by 9.3%, Italy by 4.2%, while France remained stable, with a slight growth of 0.3%. The EU’s largest auto market, Germany, grew 2.9%, to 3.03 million units.
Dacia had the biggest growth in sales volumes, of 359,141 units, from 289,795 units in 2013.
By growth rate, Dacia was overtaken by Jeep, which had a 70.6% growth in sales, to 37,890 cars, Mitsubishi, with a growth of 30.5%, to 93,480 cars, and Lexus, with 30.1% growth, to 29,471 cars.
Dacia’s market share in the EU stood at 2.9% at the end of 2014, from 2.4% in 2013.
Dacia’s owner Renault had a growth of 13.3% in 2014, to 1.22 million cars. Renault is the third largest carmaker in Europe, with a market share of 9.7% at the end of 2014.
Europe’s biggest carmaker, German Volkswagen, posted 7.2% growth in sales, to 3.18 million cars, while France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen ranks second, with a growth of 3.7%, to 1.35 million cars.