There will be two more stages in the “Rabla” program this year: from 1 June to 31 August and from 1 September to 11 December. For each of the three stages, the state has allocated RON 76 mln (for 20,000 cars per stage). The total budget for 2009 is RON 228 mln (some €54.4 mln, computed at a RON 4.1912/€1 exchange rate).
Minister of Environment Nicolae Nemirschi recently said that the trade-in value will remain at a RON 3,800 level this year, even if not all of the 60,000 scheduled cars are sold.
Nemirschi added that companies could be included in this program so they could trade in cars older than 10 years, but this requires finding a method which would not be considered state aid. Another possibility is to expand the program to include cars acquired in leasing.
The President of the National Trade Union Block, Dumitru Costin, said last week that he would recommend that the Ministry of Finance double the trade-in value from the current RON 3,800, in order to relaunch the Romanian auto industry, even if this measure will halve the number of beneficiaries from the “Rabla” program, adding that the current amount is unattractive.
