“We have no hopes that the Romanian auto market will rebound this year, so, I believe that this year we will make 55 percent of the sales registered last year [Ed.n – when 84,790 cars were sold],” the Vice President of Automobile Dacia, Constantin Stroe, told Business Standard.
Although the company registered a 49.5 percent drop in sales in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008, this result allows the Dacia brand to maintain its leading position on the local market, according to a press release by the car maker.
However, this decline on the local market was partially compensated by a 60.4 percent rise in export sales, which helped Automobile Dacia sell a total of 153,826 cars (on the local and foreign markets) in the first half of 2009, up 20.3 percent compared to January-June 2008.
According to representatives in the auto industry, car demand could be stimulated in the second half of 2009, to some extent, by the expansion of the car trade-in program, so that it would include cars bought in leasing and light commercial vehicles.
