Features
25 Jan 17

Romania: Cars slowing down, LCVs accelerating

Seven of every ten cars sold in Romania are registered to corporations. After double digit growth in 2014 and 2015, 2016 seems a year of cool-down. Yet, Light Commercial Vehicles are thriving.

The total fleet market represented nearly 55,000 cars in 2015, up from 41,500 in 2013. After years of impressive uplift, 2016 figures show that the market is slowing down, and even more so in the fleet segment: from January to August 2016, the fleet market increased by just 2.1% compared to the same period a year earlier. This is in line with the economic.

As one might expect, Dacia is by far the most popular fleet car brand, taking a quarter of the pie. Like in many Central European countries, Škoda ranks very high in Romania (2nd), closely followed by mother company Volkswagen (3rd). The first premium brand here is Mercedes (6th), followed by BMW (8th). Zooming in on the models, Dacia occupies first and second place in the top five with the Logan and Duster respectively. The Škoda Octavia, Renault Clio and Škoda Rapid complete the top five. The most popular executive saloon/estate is the Volkswagen Passat (9th position).

Romania’s fleet market remains to be driven by diesel-powered compact cars, such as the Škoda Octavia, Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf. In 2012, two out of every three cars were diesels, and this ratio has hardly changed over the past four years. Hybrids are on the rise, but not the rechargeable ones. Toyota and Lexus control the market – unlike in other European countries, where premium PHEVs tend to lead the way.

LARGE LCVS BOOMING

In a market that is cooling down, it is remarkable to see that large vans, such as Ford Transit, Fiat Ducato, Iveco Daily and Renault Master, are doing well. According to the Romanian news agency Act Media, registrations of new LCVs in Romania surged by 35% to 10,380 units in the first nine months of the year.

Dacia, again, takes the lead, with the compact van Dokker representing 88% of its LCV sales and covering 18.5% of the total Romanian <3.5t van market. Like elsewhere in Europe, Ford capitalises on its comprehensive van model range. The alternatively powered commercial vehicle market is non-existent in Romania, even though Fiat and Iveco have CNG models in their line-up.

 

Authored by: Dieter Quartier