In 2022, for the first time, more than 10,000 electric cars were sold in Romania in a year, according to an analysis carried out by Autovit.ro. Meanwhile, new car registrations were up 7% from the previous year, surpassing even the 2020 numbers.

Electric cars had another record year, especially due to the Rabla Plus program, Autovit said. The sales of electric cars were three times higher in 2022 vs 2021, and the Dacia Spring model, for which 2022 was the first full year of sales, had more than 50% of the electric car market in its best months.

"Buyers' tendency to move towards eco-friendly or fuel-efficient car models is also reflected in the lower supply of cars with diesel engines, which represented less than 15% of all new cars sold in 2022," Autovit explained.

The new car market is the automotive segment that ended the year on a positive note, with the volume of new cars registered reaching 129,328 units in 2022, a 7% increase compared to 2021.

Moreover, in the first half of last year, the new car market in Romania had the highest increase in registrations at the EU level as well. The 58,712 new cars that entered the Romanian market between January and June 2022 were 23% more than those registered in the same period of the previous year.

However, compared to the pre-pandemic period, the new car market fell by 20% vs 2019, meaning almost 33,000 units less.

Dacia Logan was the best-selling car in 2022, followed by other models produced in Romania: Duster, Sandero, Spring, and Ford Puma. Next came Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Corolla, Skoda Octavia, Dacia Jogger, and Toyota C-HR.

According to Autovit, a particularity of the year 2022 was the launch of some Chinese brands in Europe, which also started to be sold in Romania.

Meanwhile, the market of imported second-hand cars is the segment with the largest decline. In 2022, 325,062 vehicles brought from abroad were registered in Romania, 18% less than in 2021.

"The used car market ended 2022 with the lowest number of registrations in this segment in the last 6 years. The main reason for this decline was the absence of sufficient stocks on car sales platforms and, by implication, high purchase prices," Autovit said.

Compared to 2019, the number of imported used car registrations was almost 120,000 units lower in 2022.

The same report revealed that there were 622,583 re-registrations in Romania in 2022, only 5% less than in 2021 and at similar to 2019. Domestic used-car transactions exploded in 2021 amid a slowdown in the new car market and reduced stocks of imported used cars, going up 14% from 2020. Practically, for re-registrations, 2021 was the best year in history, with a total of 655,804 cars registered, the same source said.

The value of cars put up for sale in 2022 on Autovit.ro, the largest online platform for car ads in Romania, was more than EUR 4 billion, up 13% compared to 2021. The most published ads were for cars with values between EUR 10,000 and 25,000 (31%), followed by those for models between EUR 5,000 and 10,000 (26%) or under EUR 5,000 (22%).

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: JaCrispy | Dreamstime.com)