Moreover, July saw this year’s biggest decline on the car segment, of almost 40%, to 5,600 cars, compared with 9,000 in July 2011.
“Among the factors that affected the market in the past few months are the fluctuation of the exchange rate, which caused many customers to put off their buying decision, as well as the freeze of EU funds. We have had orders for cars which were supposed to be bought with European money, and which were no longer delivered,” said the head of Radacini group which owns dealers of Opel, Chevrolet, Citroen, Mazda and Suzuki.
If the market trend continues until the end of the year, 2012 will see a volume of sales of around 84,000 vehicles, similar to the 2000 level.
The significant decline is linked in part to this year’s clunkers program, which has currently reached 45,000 vouchers, out of a total of 60,000, while last year 120,000 vouchers were issued.
The nominal value of a voucher has not been changed from last year, at RON3,800. Up to three vouchers worth RON3,800 can be used to buy a new car.
But this year the price of vouchers traded on the black market has gone up from RON1,000-RON1,500 last year to almost RON3,000 now, a value considered too high for those who want to buy a new car.
“After seven months sales data reported by operators shows that the sales decline continues and deepens the crisis of the Romanian auto sector,” reads the release of the Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA).
From 2008 until the present the decline of the local auto market has amounted to 76%, according to APIA data, while the European market fell by 20% during the same period.
“We think urgent measures are needed to stimulate the purchase of new cars, especially through the two established instruments – the tax on polluting emissions and the clunkers scheme,” say APIA officials.
In the first seven months 2.3 times more second-hand cars were registered than new ones – 90,000 second-hand cars this year, compared with almost 40,000 in the first seven months of last year, according to statistics of the Car Registrations Department of the Police.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)
Evolution of vehicle sales in the past 14 years| Year | Vehicle sales (units) |
| 1998 | 142,935 |
| 1999 | 118,917 |
| 2000 | 84,170 |
| 2001 | 91,525 |
| 2002 | 112,000 |
| 2003 | 135,305 |
| 2004 | 180,927 |
| 2005 | 256,414 |
| 2006 | 297,162 |
| 2007 | 366,819 |
| 2008 | 324,080 |
| 2009 | 147,962 |
| 2010 | 119,576 |
| 2011 | 110,668 |
| 2012* | 84,000 |