2012, worst year for automotive market since 2000

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New vehicle market lost almost 19 per cent last year. If most makers and importers had to cope with the most difficult year since 2000, other ones have reasons to pay sales bonuses to their staff, money.ro reports.Statistics published by the Driving Licence and Vehicle Registration Department (DRPCIV), in 2012 the new passenger vehicle market decreased by 18.69 per cent. Romanians bought a total of 66,436 units last year, 15,273 fewer than the year before. Dacia is in the lead when it comes to the number of registered new cars, with 16,400 units. Volkswagen comes in the second place, with 7,700 units, Skoda with 6,200, Ford with over 5,000 and Renault with almost 4,600 cars registered last year, according to DRPCIV statistics. The worst hit was the entry-level segment. That was partly caused by a market preference for more expensive cars, a trend that is visible not just in Romania, but in other countries in Europe as well. Among important vehicle manufacturers, the most concerning decline was reported by Fiat, that came under the threshold of 1,000 units (-37.45%, 997 units), Opel (-43.60%, 2.536 units) and Chevrolet (-41.01%, 1.739 units). Contrary to the general trend, Hyundai marks a growth by 18.41% overtaking Opel by 3,068 units. At the opposite end there are premium car makers who post important growth. The segment leader is still BMW with 17.32 growth and 2,215 units sold. Audi went up by 23%, with 1,818 units sold, ahead of Mercedes (1,655 units). DRPCIV stats do not include back-orders for the new A-classe model that could upset the premium segment standings. The number of used cars imported to Romania went up by 85% in 2012, to a total of 175,000 units from the 94,500 registered in 2011, according to an auto.ro analysis. The number of re-registered passenger vehicles decreased by 13% from 411,400 units in 2011 to approximately 356,600 units registered in 2012, the analysis also shows. In December 2012 approximately 19,000 cars were imported to Romania, more by 120 per cent than the 8,560 registered in December 2011. In the entire year 2012, 241,400 used and new passenger vehicles were registered, more by 37% than in 2011 when only 176,200 were registered. On the other hand, an INS report shows the turnover in the motor vehicle and motorbike retail decrease in the first 11 months of 2012 as both gross and seasonally adjusted series by 4.9% and 4.5% respectively. The motor-vehicle trade suffered a gross series decrease by 6.6%, the trade with parts and accessories for motor-vehicles went down by 2.8% and repair units also reported a decrease of activity by 1.8%. Motorbike, parts and accessories trade went up by 4.5%.