Romania will continue its Clunkers car replacement program this year, keeping its budget at some EUR 26 million, one quarter of last year's and hoping to get 30,000 old cars off Romania's roads . Owners of old cars receive a voucher of RON 3,800 (or some EUR 875) that can be used when buying a new car. The new stage of this program should start in three weeks.

The Clunkers program fueled new cars sales in previous years in Romania. Last year, the state's budget, through the Ministry of Environment, was of EUR 105 million, which helped retire 120,000 old cars. Over two years the program has banished 300,000 cars older than 10 years to the scrapheap.

Last year, the program fueled the sale of 40,000 new cars, while in 2010, 63,000 new cars were bought.

editor@romania-insider.com