Porsche Romania expects a 10% drop in sales in 2009

Tapalaga indicated that the difficulties faced by the world economy are mostly affecting Romanian constructors, since importers “find ways to overcome the crisis.”

“On the basis of a pessimistic scenario, we cannot expect anything good before the end of winter, in other words within some five months from now. But for next year we expect higher sales for our own dealers [Inter Auto], because we will have additional sales capacities,” said Tapalaga.

The Porsche official added that investments will continue in the entire Porsche Romania network, which will boost sales. The company’s development plan for 2009 includes the expansion of the retail, service, car parts and accessory network.

Porsche Inter Auto, which presently has five dealers, set aside some €60 million for investments in showrooms and service units, of which €27 mln for building two centers in Bucharest, one for Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini, and the other for Volkswagen and Skoda.

The company sold 58,790 cars in 2007, up 35 percent year-on-year. Porsche Romania was the only car importer whose business exceeded the €1 billion threshold in 2007, according to the Ministry of Finance, and is estimating some €1.1 bln in business for 2008.

The Romanian car market will stagnate this year, at some 370,000 units, and is expected to drop by up to one fifth in 2009.