Almost 2,900 new green vehicles traded in Romania in H1 2020

Sales of new green vehicles in Romania increased by 2.7% in the first half of the year, to 2,889 units, as against 2,813 in H12019, according to statistics with Romania's Association of Car Manufacturers and Importers (APIA).

Overall, the share of new electric and hybrid vehicles in the total local car market stood at 5.9% in H1 2020, above the level of the previous year, when it stood at 4%.

According to APIA, between January and June 2020, most of the purchases were recorded in the category of hybrid vehicles - with 2,023 units, down 9.2% from the first six months of 2019.

At the same time, sales of electric cars increased by 31.6% to 600 units, while sales of plug-in models advanced 107.8% to 266 units.

Topping the rankings of the most sold 100% electric vehicles was Renault, with 256 units, followed by Skoda and Volkswagen - 61 units each, BMW (57), Hyundai (39) , Nissan (36), smart (25), Tesla (14), Mercedes Benz (13) and Jaguar (12).

Most of the hybrid vehicles sold in Romania in H1 2020 were manufactured by Toyota - 1,730 units. Following Toyota in the ranking were Lexus (103), Honda (63), Hyundai (55), Ford (46), Kia (20) and Subaru (6).

Topping the rankings of the plug-in electric vehicle sales in the first was BMW - with 54 units, followed by Volvo (48), Porsche (36), Mitsubishi (30), Mercedes Benz (22), Hyundai (18 ), Ford (17), Mini (14), Land Rover (10) and Toyota (5).

In June 2020, in Romania, 728 green vehicles were sold, up 82 from H1 2019, when 400 units were sold, and the total market share reached 7.2% (vs 5.7% in H1 2019).

The Ministry of the Environment, Waters and Forestry (MMAP) has allocated for 2020, through the Administration of the Environment Fund (AFM), 140 million lei for the car scrappage plus programme, about 45 million more than in 2019.

Officials are estimating that up to 3,000 electric and hybrid vehicles could be purchased on that budget.