May 2010

Decline In Car-Market Helped Paint Manufacturers
Especially the automotive industry had to suffer of the current crisis. The Romanian car market shrank last year by 53 percent compared to the year before. Positive side effect: Manufacturers and specialized retailers registered increases in sales of industrial coatings that are used in the automotive industry. In a market that deposed in 2009 only 130.000 cars, repainting of old cars seemed to be hot, rather than selling them. Many vehicle owners apparently preferred to have their old cars newly painted, instead of buying a new one. Romania's largest paint and coatings manufacturers, Policolor, reported declines of 30 percent for wall colors, and of 15 percent for other coatings, but also reported an increase in automotive paints. Similarly also developed the market for interior coatings.

April 2010

Dacia exported back more than 90% of production
Although the scrapping premium is now used only in 6 of 16 states it was formerly used, the Romanian Renault subsidiary Dacia registers a growing demand. According to the Romanian Association of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers APIA, Dacia exported in the first quarter of this year for the second quarter in a row, more than 90 per cent of production. Whereas during the first quarter of 2009 short-time working was introduced, Dacia introduced extra shifts, already two times this year. Currently the daily production at Dacia is 1366 cars. Out of 85 000 cars produced in the first three months of this year, 77 000 have been exported.

March 2010

Slight Recovery Of Car-Market In February In Terms Of Registrations
The Romanian car market experienced a slight recovery last February. The number of new registrations rose in the second month this year by 24 per cent compared to the previous month. 2658 new cars were registered in February 2010, accounting for 63 per cent of the last year's February, as reported by the Romanian Car Admissions Agency (DRPCIV). Although the Renault subsidiary Dacia shines with a monthly capacity of 534 cars, this represents a decrease of 67.36 per cent compared to February 2009. Ford is in second place with 348 cars (-4.66 percent), followed by Volkswagen (323 cars, -66.46 percent). Among the few brands that reached a licensing plus last February is BMW, with 97 cars (+8.99 percent) registered. Jaguar showed the largest increase (50 percent), but it is not surprising with an admission volume of 3 cars.

February 2010

Car Registrations In January To Record Low
Heavy snowfall, cold, and the generally weak January left the Romanian car market to fall by 84.5 per cent in volume compared to January 2009. In the first month of this year 2134 new vehicles were registered across the country, as reported by the competent admissions office. The highest rate was the one of Volkswagen with 443 vehicles registered and a market share of 20.7 percent. Ford ranks second with 259 cars and a share of 12.1 percent, Dacia claimed third place with 9.4 percent market shares and 201 registered motor vehicles. In the boom year of 2008, almost twice as many car as this year (93 percent more) were approved in January.

January 2010

December Brought Relaxation In The Badly Battered Automotive Market
In last year's December 11,313 new vehicles and 18,830 used vehicles have been registered in Romania. This represents an increase of 37 per cent for the new vehicles and of 26 per cent for the used ones, compared to the previous month. As a total, last year 116,012 new vehicles and almost twice as many (211,996) used vehicles have been registered. Thus, the decline of the Romanian car market lies at 59.4 per cent (regarding the market for new cars), and respectively at 29.5 per cent (in the used car market). In the last month of last year, the Renault subsidiary Dacia held 24.4 per cent of the Romanian car market, followed by Ford with 9.3 per cent and Skoda with 8.8 per cent.