New car sales plunge as much as 70% in December

Dacia and Ford, two of the top five brands on the local automotive market posted 55% and 70% declines in sales last month, which is worse than the most pessimistic expectations.

Preliminary data for the entire industry reveal an overall market decline of 70% in the last month of the year, down to about 10,000 vehicles. The main causes are the new lending regulations and the imports of second-hand cars from Western Europe. The same downward trend is expected in January, as well, because of the potential modification of the pollution tax.

"Under the current circumstances, caused by the stated intentions of the environment minister to either suppress or change the current form of the pollution tax, the automotive market will remain frozen, because such statements invite consumers to wait," said Constantin Stroe, vice-president of Automobile Dacia and chairman of the Association of Car Manufacturers in Romania (ACAROM).

After the 50% decline of the automotive market in November, companies in the industry were talking about a similar trend in the last month of the year, but the first preliminary data presented by the players in the business reveal faster declines of sales of new cars.

Ford, one of the top four imported brands on the domestic market saw sales go down by 70% in December to 655 vehicles, while Dacia sold about 3,620 vehicles, down 50% from the same time in 2007 and 70% from an average month in 2007, when it would sell 12,000 cars. The two brands are the first to have revealed sales in December.

"It is hard to estimate the volume of the automotive market in January. The first month of the year has never been extraordinary, mainly due to the winter holidays in December," said Ernest Popovici, chairman of the Association of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA).

Ziarul Financiar