Q1, 2018 sales of electric, hybrid cars in Romania reach 661

Sales of green cars in Romania increased by 62.4 percent in the first three months of 2018, as against the same period of the previous year, to 661 units, according to data with the Association of Automobile Manufacturers and Importers (APIA). 

According to official data, out of this total, 201 are all-electric vehicles, a five-time jump (+ 390.2 percent) from the first three months of 2017, and 460 units are hybrid electric vehicles (+25.7 percent). 

January-March 2018, the share of green cars in total sales nationwide was 2.2 percent, while in the same period of the previous year the share was 1.7 percent. 

In March, 269 electric and hybrid electric vehicles were marketed, up 35.17 percent on a monthly basis. 

The first place In the ranking of the most sold all-electric vehicles, January - March, 2018 was occupied by Volkswagen with 88 units, followed by smart (43), BMW (27), Mercedes Benz (14), Volvo (9), Renault (8), Porsche (4), Audi (3) and Kia (2). 

Also, most of the HEVs sold in Romania, January - March, 2018 came from Toyota (395 units), Lexus (25), Kia (15) and Audi (13). 

APIA statistics show that the share of all-electric and hybrid electric vehicles in the total new unit sales went up to 2.2 percent in 2017, reaching 2,811 units, up 136.7 percent year-on-year. 

In the reported growth range, 514 were all-electric vehicles (up 207.8 percent from 2016) and 2,297 hybrid electric vehicles (+ 126.1 percent). 

In mid-March 2018, the Environment Ministry launched a new session of the Rabla Plus car scrappage programme designed for those who want to buy a green car. The budget allocated for this programme amounts to 120 million lei, which cover two types of eco-labels. 

Thus, one eco-bonus version is worth 45,000 lei (10,000 euros), but no more than 50 percent of the price tag for the purchase of a new all-electric vehicle. The other one is the eco-bonus of 20,000 lei (about 5,000 euros), but no more than 50 percent of the price tag that can be granted for the purchase of a new hybrid electric vehicle with an external power source that generates less than 50 g/km CO2 emissions. 

The Government is expecting Romanians to buy 2,000 electric cars in 2018 under the Rabla Plus Programme. 

Access to the programme is not made conditional upon scrapping and writing off a used car, and the first offered under the Classic Rabla Program (of 6,500 lei) can be combined with the eco-labels provided by the Rabla Plus Programme only if the applicant purchases either an all-new electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Agerpres.