Mazda planning to double its sales in 2008

"We will sell 1,000 cars on the Romanian market in 2007, and 1,900 units in 2008. The average value of a car sold through dealers in our network is €14,000-15,000," Cristian Rigu, Country Manager Mazda Romania, told Business Standard.

Based on this value, the sale of Madzas on the local market should amount to some €15 mln in 2007, after increasing by an annul 138 percent in the first nine months of 2007, to 591 units.

The BDT Cars auto dealer, part of the Business Development Team (BDT) group, which sells Mazda cars on the local market, recently invested €1.5 mln in opening a Mazda showroom in Bucharest. BDT Cars has a 20.4 percent share of total Mazda sales in Romania, according to company data, and plans to sell 300 units in 2007 and 700 cars in 2008. The auto dealer will build a 5,000 square meter complex worth €2-3 mln in Bucharest next year, dedicated to the Mazda brand.

Main competitors of the Japanese brand, part of the Ford car maker, on the local market are Volkswagen, Toyota, Skoda, and Renault. Romania became the largest new car market in Central and Eastern Europe in 2006, followed by Poland and Hungary.