Volkswagen, Ford and Opel grabbed the largest share from Dacia and Daewoo in 2007

The market share of local car maker Automobile Dacia dropped to a little over 28 last year from 36.3 percent in 2006, while Daewoo dropped to 4 percent from 7.8 percent in 2006.

Automobile Dacia sold 102,062 cars in 2007, down 5.3 percent from 107,777 units sold year-on-year, while the drop for the Daewoo brand exceeded 25 percent, down to 17,000 cars.

The main importer, Renault, reported a market share of some 9 percent in 2007, compared to its 7.9 percent in 2006, with sales up 37 percent last year to 32,308 units. Best-sold models of the French car maker were Clio Symbol and Megane.

German Volkswagen also benefitted from the lower market share of the local automaker, reporting it captured 7.5 percent of the market, up nearly 2 percentage points from its 2006 level of 5.8 percent. Volkswagen sold 26,215 unit (+51 percent), and the top model was its Polo.

Skoda, Ford, and Opel follow with the first maintaining its 7 percent market share in spite of a rise in sales of some 21 percent. Ford’s market share rose over two percentage points, to some 6 percent, with sales up to 69 percent, and Opel is fifth in terms of sales, with a 5.4 percent market share, and sales of 19,685 cars.

According to dealers, total sales in 2007 amounted to 360,000 cars, up some 20 percent year-on-year, and most importers are expecting the market to increase by 10 percent, to some 400,000 cars in 2008.