Romania's ten-month new automotive sales almost 11 pct up

Romania's new automotive sales were almost 11 percent up January - October this year from the same period of 2016, to 127,509 units; cars account for 83 percent or 105,857 units of total deliveries, shows data released on Friday by the Association of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA). 

In the reporting period, car sales increased 13.4 pct. 

Just like in previous years, domestic sales were mainly supported by automotive purchases by legal entities, which account for 65 percent of the figure, versus 35 percent for individuals. 

As far as used passenger cars are concerned, some 426,000 units were registered in the first 10 months of 2017, by 42 percent more than the figure registered over the entire previous year, ie five times more than new ones. 

APIA statistics also reveal that there was a 0.3 pct increase in sales of commercial vehicles (goods and passenger transport). 

Dacia tops the brand ranking (cars + commercial vehicles) with 34,900 units sold, followed by Volkswagen (12,798 units), Ford (10,170), Renault (10,137) and Skoda (9,533). In the light commercial vehicles category (minibuses included), Ford is on the top spot (with 3,220 units), followed by Dacia (2,745 units, + 10.7 pct) and Mercedes (1,828 units, + 15.8 pct). 

At the car category, Dacia ranks first by delivery volumes with 32,155 units (30.4 pct market share, up 11.5 pct from 2016), followed by Volkswagen (11,388 units , 10.8 pct market share), Skoda (9,533 units, 9 pct market share), Renault (8,601 units, 8.1 pct market share), Ford (6,950 units, 6.6 pct market share), and Opel (5,119 units, 4.8 pct market share). 

By the type of fuel they are running on, gas-powered cars have been dominating the market in the last two years, accounting for 51.4 pct of the total this year, slightly up compared to the similar period of the previous year (50.9 pct). 

As for "green" cars (electric and hybrid vehicles), they reached 2 percent of total deliveries in the first ten months of 2017.AGERPRES .