Romania - 6th in Europe as decline of new car registrations

The number of new vehicles for passengers registered in Romania faces the sixth decline at European level, in the first quarter of the year, compared to the similar time period of 2008, namely 60.7 per cent, to 29,089 units, according to the association of European Automotive Constructors (ACEA), Agerpres informs. 74,028 new cars were registered in the Romanian market over the first three months of 2008, In the ten Member States which joined the European Union (EU) after 2004, 213,709 vehicles were registered, over the first three months of the year, by 28.6 per cent less than during the previous year, and the automotive market from Romania ranked the third, after Poland, with 87,939 units, by 1.3 per cent more than compared with the previous year, and Czech Republic, respectively, with 31,075 cars, down by 5.9 per cent. In March, in Romania, 8,124 new vehicles were registered, down by 64.8 per cent from 23,110 units during the same month of the previous year.

The decline of the local market in the third month of the year is the sixth among ACEA states. Out of the ten countries which joined the EU after 2004, Romania ranks the third, after Poland, which registered an advance by 2.5 per cent, to 30,098 vehicles registered, and Czech Republic, with an advance by 0.9 per cent, to 12,410 units. The ten states experienced a drop by 25.4 per cent, to 76,803 new vehicles registered in March.

Within the 27 EU Member States, there were by 17.1 per cent fewer vehicle registrations over the first three months of the year, compared to the similar time period of 2008, down to 3,361,385 units, whereas the decline was only 9.1 per cent in March, down to 1,474,996 units.

Within the EU, the Romanian automotive market ranked the 16th, in terms of size, over the first quarter of the year, whereas in March it ranked the 17th. The largest EU market was Germany, which advanced by 40 per cent in the first quarter, to 400,965 newly registered vehicles, standing for 18 per cent advance last month, to 868,090 cars.

Dacia, on high demand in March

Dacia vehicle registrations in Europe indicate 14,518 units in March 2009, by 84.8 per cent compared to March 2008 (7,855 units) and the market share of the domestic automotive constructor advanced from 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent, according to ACEA.

Over the first quarter of 2009, there were 31,514 Dacia vehicles registered in total, within 28 European countries, by 26.5 per cent more than compared to January - March 2008, where there were 24,916 units registered. As a whole, the vehicles sales of Renault Group in 28 markets, over the first three month of 2009, indicated 255,894 units, down by 19.3 per cent compared to the first quarter of the previous year - 317,047 units. Volkswagen maintained the first place within the automotive producers active in ACEA market, with 714,453 vehicles registered over the first three months of 2009, down by 9.4 per cent, namely 304,257 units in March, by 0.3 per cent fewer than compared to the same month of 2008.

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