New Car Registrations In Romania Plummeted In Oct ’09, On Upward Trend In EU States

New car registrations in Romania plummeted 69.1% in October this year, to 7,572 units, compared with 24,474 units in October 2008, while the European Union auto market was up 11.6% in October, to 1.23 million units, compared with 1.1 million units in October 2008, according to ACEA.

New car registrations in Romania fell 62%, to 96,176 units, in the first ten months of 2009, compared with 252,924 units in the same period in 2008. New car registrations in EU countries saw a decrease of only 4.8%, to 11.9 million units in the January-October period, compared with 12.5 million units in the same period in 2008.

Romania’s auto market ranks 16th in EU by new car registrations in October and 14th by new car registrations in the first ten months of 2009, although Romania is the seventh largest EU country by population.

Romania ranks third among EU newcomers by new car registrations in October, way behind Poland with 25,279 new car registrations and the Czech Republic with 14,121 new car registrations, which is relatively similar with the first ten months of 2009.

New car registration in EU newcomers saw a 36.9% decrease in October, to 62,444 units, and a 29.6% decrease in the first ten months of the year, to 696,256 units.

Despite a sharp decrease on the Romanian market, new registrations of Dacia cars in Europe were up 19% in October, to 20,753 units, compared with 17,442 in October 2008, and were up 24.5% in the first ten months of the year, to 194,824 units, compared with 156,467 units in the January-October period in 2008.

New registrations of Dacia cars in Europe, namely the European Union and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) countries, such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, were up in October, after a decrease in September following a halt in auto industry stimulus programs unfolded this year by several governments of developed EU countries.

French group Renault, which also includes Dacia, saw a 33.9% increase in new car registrations in October in Europe, to 136,564 units, and a 2.7% decrease, to 1.09 million units, in the January -October period in 2009.

Renault ranks fifth in Europe by new car registrations in the first ten months of 2009, outranked by Volkswagen with nearly 2.6 million new car registrations, PSA Peugeot Citroen with 1.559 million units, Ford with 1.249 million units and General Motors with 1.1 million units.