The two Romanian automobile producers, in their early stage of adopting electrification and thus less exposed to the twist in buyers’ options, announced their aggregated output rose by 8.7% y/y to 356,475 units in January-August, according to the industry association ACAROM, quoted by Economedia.ro.

The Ford Otosan factory in Craiova marked a significant 26% y/y advance to 155,383 units but lagged behind Dacia (-2% y/y to 201,090 units).

Notably, Ford Otosan produced over 32,800 cars in July and August, up 24% compared to the same period in 2023, surpassing the Dacia plant in Mioveni for the first time in history.

On the demand side, Romania’s automobile market rose by 8% y/y, with 106,534 new units registered for the first time in the country (new cars and imported used cars). The growth rate was only 1.4% (to 7.18 million) for the entire European Union, where the motorization rate is already higher compared to Romania.

The number of fully electric newly registered cars dropped by 29% y/y to 6,877 units, but the number of hybrid electric newly registered cars surged by 39% y/y to 39,388 units. The count of fully electric vehicles in the EU also dropped by 8.3% y/y to 0.9 million in January-August.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: LinkedIn/Ford Otosan Romania)