Scrapping bonus takes car market to all time high

The scrapping bonus has given a strong boost to car sales. In July, almost 28,000 Romanian and imported cars were delivered, making it the best month in the history of the car market. With an estimated value of approximately 250 million euros, the sales of new cars on the domestic market reached the highest level in history, with almost every local producer and importer announcing records in terms of business. The increase in sales as a result of the scrapping bonus comes after Romanian and foreign cars witnessed contrasting fortunes in the first six months of the year. Whereas imported car sales continued to grow for the most part, sales of Romanian cars had been dwindling almost every month compared with the same period of 2005. The official launch of the scrapping bonus programme led to Dacia selling out its entire stock of over 4,500 allocated cars in a matter of days. High demand drove Daewoo’s sales to a record high, almost 4,200 units sold in July, over 300 more than the previous monthly record of the Craiova-based carmaker. In turn, importers stood to gain from the launch of the scrapping bonus programme. One such example is AutoItalia, an importer of Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and SsangYong brands, which sold almost 1,100 cars in July, making this its best month ever.