Romania's Association of Car Producers and Importers deems the car market will stop growing in 2008

The local car market could see 5 percent increase at the most this year, remain the same or even drop, said Brent Valmar, APIA's vice president. He added new estimates were made due to the new first-time car registration tax which stipulates its value will drop as the car gets older.

Dacia sales could decrease up to 20 percent this year if the new first-time car registration tax enters into force in July and if APIA's proposal to replace 100,000 old vehicles fails to be approved, said Constantin Stroe, the company's vice president.

New car sales, including commercial vehicles and buses, stood around 367,000 units last year, a 23 percent hike against 2006. The number of second-hand imported cars increased 4.5 percent last year, from 118,422 to 123,842 units.

Source: NewsIn