The sale of luxury cars was subject to a contradictory evolution in 2008, with growth for most brands, such as Maserati, which reported a doubling of the number of cars sold and a drop in demand for other brands. A similar situation was reported also for premium cars, which expanded in 2008 year-on-year, where some volume brands, such as Mercedes, reported growth of over 21 percent, while the most successful brand on the market in 2007 posted a decline of over 10 percent.
Maserati sold 41 cars in 2008, compared to 22 the year before.
The luxury car market gained two brands in 2008, namely the Corvette and the Ferrari, of which 5 and 16 units were sold. Bentley, which also entered the Romanian market in 2008, announced it delivered 5 units.
There were no Maybach or Rolls-Royce sales in 2008, after a single Maybach sale in 2007, and no Rolls-Royce last year. Porsche reported sales of 118 units in 2008, a 20 percent drop from the 147 sold in 2007.
Of the three premium brands with the highest volume of sales, the top spots in 2008 were claimed by Mercedes, with 2,929 units (+21.6 percent), Audi, 2,856 units (+10.9 percent) and BMW, 2,446 units (-10.3 percent), the latter the only one with a drop in sales.
Sales of new cars on the Romanian market dropped 11.7 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year, to 324,080 units from 366,819 units, according to APIA. Based on the most pessimistic scenario for 2009, sales could drop to 150,000 units.
