Number of registered "ecological" cars increases spectacularly in Romania

Alina Oprea

17 February, 2023 at 9:12 AM

Vehicle registrations registered a 30.6% increase in Romania, in January of this year, compared to the same period in 2022, during which ecological cars recorded a jump of 61.2% and a market share of 22% of the total, according to the analysis published by the Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA). From the total number of motor vehicle registrations, cars represent approximately 85%, in January, with a volume of 12,134 units, increasing by 31.2% compared to the same month of the previous year.

On the local market, in the top brands (cars plus commercial vehicles), after the first month of 2023, is Dacia - with 4,591 units, followed by Renault (1,485 units), Mercedes Benz (786), Toyota (772), Hyundai (765), Ford (764), Volkswagen (675), Skoda (578), BMW (441) and Suzuki (387).

Depending on the type of fuel of the registered cars, in the first month of this year, gasoline engines registered a decrease of 2.2% compared to the share held in the similar period of 2022, up to a share of 66%. At the same time, in the case of cars equipped with diesel engines, a decrease of 1.9% is reported compared to last year's data, and they have a share of 12% of the total.

"Electrified" cars, i.e. electric ones (100% and plug-in hybrids), as well as full hybrid ones (which also have electric propulsion without charging from an external source), came to hold, in January 2023, a market share of 22%.

Within this margin, fully electric cars have a share of 8.8% of the market, in the analyzed period, compared to 6.2% in January 2022.

Purchases of "green" cars have grown considerably (+61.2%), compared to the beginning of the previous year, and the important jump of 100% electric cars (+87.5%) and plug-in hybrids (+20.3%).

In January 2023, the top five best-selling 100% electric cars are: Dacia Spring - with 497 units (+235.8% compared to January last year), Volkswagen e-UP! (109 units, +263.3%), Renault Megane (57 units, no registrations in January 2022), Tesla Model 3 (46 units, -38.7%) and Tesla Model Y (39 units, no registrations in January 2022).

In the Plug-in car segment, the top 5 models are led by the Mazda CX 60 - with 43 units (without registrations in January 2022), followed by the Volkswagen Tiguan - with 41 units (+127.8% compared to the first month of the previous year) ), Ford Kuga (36 units, -5.3%), Hyundai Tucson (32 units, at the same level as in January 2022) and BMW X5 (31 units, +138.5%).

The most hybrid cars, without recharging from external sources, sold Toyota Corolla (202 units, +46.4%), Renault Clio (190 units, +726.1%) and Toyota Yaris (133 units, +133.3 %).

APIA statistics show that the majority of car purchases made in January 2023 belonged to legal entities (52% of the total), and the difference of 48% belongs to individuals.

In the category of light commercial vehicles, an increase of 24.3% was reported in January 2023 compared to the similar month of the previous year.