200m euro car business for tiriac Holdings

Few car importers announce turnover and profit, besides the number of cars sold, at the end of the year.
For the first time in Romania, one of the leading vehicle importers decided to reveal its financial results. The auto division of tiriac Holdings, which represents brands like Chrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Jeep, Mazda or Mercedes-Benz in Romania, announced 200 million euros in turnover for 2002.
“The net profit last year accounted for more than 3% of the division’s turnover,” Marius Pitigoi, tiriac Holdings auto division manager, told Ziarul Financiar.
tiriac Holdings’ auto division supervises four car importers in Romania: Auto Rom (Mercedes Benz importer), Chrysler Jeep Import (Chrysler and Jeep), Romcar (Ford and Mazda) and Hyundai Auto Romania (Hyundai). The division accounted for more than 15% of the Romanian imported vehicle market in February 2003.
“We will also start representing Mitsubishi (May) and Smart (October) this year. At the same time Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles are scheduled to reach the Romanian market next year,” Pitigoi added. Under the circumstances, the car sales of tiriac Holding’s auto division will go up from the over 6,300 vehicles last year to nearly 7,500 in 2003, which accounts for  18% growth.
“The post-sale service business will grow by more than 20-25%,” Pitigoi added. Post-sale services last year contributed more than 40 million euros to the overall turnover of the tiriac Group.
The group also includes tiriac Leasing, which financed nearly 15% of the total cars sold. “30% of the total auto division’s sales last year were made through the domestic leasing system, and tiriac Leasing accounted for 40%-45% of it, ” Cristian Gala, tiriac Leasing general manager said.
The group is also planning to enter the used car segment this month by setting up a new company, Premium Leasing, set to finance the purchase of used vehicles.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro