Eight out of the ten best-selling import cars in Romania belong to German groups, but not all of them are manufactured in Germany, according to ZF analysis based on data provided by the Association of Car Producers and Importers (APIA).
Although they belong to a German group, Skoda makes the Octavia and Fabia models in the Mlada Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic, Opel produces the Astra at Gliwice, Poland, while the Volkswagen Polo is assembled in Pamplona, Spain.
While the top three positions are held by models belonging to the Volkswagen and Opel groups, the fourth and fifth positions are occupied by models produced on major car markets outside Europe -Turkey and South Korea. The Renault Symbol model is imported from Turkey, while the Chevrolet Aveo is imported from South Korea; both cars are on the same price segment as the Dacia Logan.
Another instance of car brand “globalization” is the Ford brand, which, though originally American, is headquartered in Cologne and is considered a German carmaker at European level.
Considering only the top ten, Romanians paid over EUR133 million for passenger cars produced by Germans or German car makers in Europe, while the Renault Symbol and Chevrolet Aveo, which sold EUR8.6 million and EUR9.8 million, respectively, were imported from Turkey and South Korea.
In the ranking of the ten best-selling imported passenger cars, it was expensive models that climbed, especially those belonging to Volkswagen.
In the first half of this year, the best-selling import model was Skoda Octavia with over 2,000 units, down 4% from a year ago, a decline that is however narrower than the competition’s.
Octavia thus outran Renault Symbol, the leader of import cars in recent years, which suffered a steep sales decline, by almost 50%, to around 1,600 cars.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Radu Bostan)