The decline in light commercial vehicles is even sharper than the 63 percent drop in car sales reported in January.
“Nobody is selling utility vehicles anymore. We have many discussions with numerous clients, and nothing gets finalized because companies have sharply lowered their budgets. If we will see a rebound of the car sale market in spring, the crisis will last at least through 2009 on the utility vehicle segment,” said Alin Tapalaga, General Manager of Porsche Inter Auto, the retail division of Porsche Romania, the country’s largest car importer.
He added that, unlike individuals, companies compute their budgets much more carefully, and are more reluctant about investing in times of crisis.
“We are witnessing a historic drop. It is difficult to identify the factors which are contributing to this situation, but the most logical explanation is that clients are postponing their decision to buy, considering loans are the way they are and the euro is becoming increasingly stronger, everything added to the difficult economic situation globally,” said Auto Italia officials. They also indicated that this decline could not be compensated by significant price cuts and financing solutions offered by dealers to clients.
