Over half of car brands witnessing growth again

In the first two months of this year, 27 car brands out of the 45 ones present in Romania and that sell at least one passenger car per month registered a positive result compared with the similar period of last year, reveals a ZF survey, while 18 were still in the red.

Out of the brands that registered growth, five posted a three-digit sales advance, values that have not been seen for almost four years. The biggest increase in January-February was reported by Alfa Romeo, a brand imported domestically by AutoItalia, which sold almost 20 cars in the first two months, up by 260% from a year ago. Second came MAN trucks with 61 units, up 135%, while Suzuki filled the third position.

All these brands are not volume brands, though, so that a product with sales of 20-30 cars per month can much more easily see sales double or even triple compared with a brand that sells several hundred cars monthly. In the first two months, new car sales rose by 20%.

At the opposite end of the ranking, the steepest sales decline, without taking into account the brands that sold no car, was registered by Lexus, which sold 3 units in the first two months, against 8 a year ago.