Car sales struggled last year in Romania as new car registrations fell by 18.7 percent from the level in 2011. Last year, 66,436 new cars were registered, significantly down on 2011 when the figure was over 81,000, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).

New car registrations were down across Europe, but Romania's results were far poorer than the 8.2 percent EU average fall, which made 2012 the worst year for EU car sales in 17 years.

European manufacturers are struggling and many redundancies have been announced recently at car factories. Earlier in the week Renault, which owns Romanian car manufacturer Dacia, announced restructuring plans for home country France. The company plans to reduce the workforce by 7,500 by 2016 via a combination of not replacing retiring staff and redundancies.

No plans to reduce the workforce at the Dacia plant in Romania were mentioned. Despite Renault recording an overall 6 percent drop in sales, Dacia cars appear to be selling well. Sales of Dacia models in 2012 were up by 4.8 percent to nearly 360,000 units.

editor@romania-insider.com

photo source: photoxpress.com