Even though it increased significantly compared with the 10% rise in the first quarter of 2011, the 14,000-unit volume can still be considered low even when looking at the figures of a crisis year.
By comparison, the number of new car registrations in January 2009 stood at 14,000.
The top spot in terms of increase in registrations went to Iceland, which saw a rate of 101% to almost 1,100 cars. On the other hand, Iceland’s auto market, like Romania’s, dropped sharply during the crisis years, in this case by almost 90%.
When it comes to the ranking by volume, Romania is in its second half in Europe. Whereas it was tenth in Europe in 2008, now it barely made 22nd, leaving only much less populous countries like Hungary, Luxembourg or Bulgaria behind.
The first quarter growth was almost entirely driven by corporate buyers, as consumers preferred to wait for the government-backed clunkers program, which gives then an EUR2,700 bonus to buy a new car. The clunkers program started at the end of last week, though with only 30,000 vouchers, which should theoretically be enough for 10,000 cars, less than 10% of the total market volume this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)