'Green' cars market doubles in 2021; market share up 2.2 folds on this segment (APIA)

Registrations of ecological cars (100pct electric and plug-in hybrids), as well as full hybrids doubled in Romania, in 2021, with market share on this segment reaching 15.5pct, 2.2 times higher than the previous year, shows data provided by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers and Importers (APIA), published on Thursday, Agerpres reports.

Official statistics show that last year the market share of "green" cars was 7.1pct.

According to the same source, the same as in 2020, when, although there was a decrease in car purchases in general, environmentally friendly ones performed, in 2021, purchases in this category doubled (+ 109.1pct), year on year. In this context, there was recorded a significant increase in plug-in hybrid cars (+ 178.9pct), compared to the reference period.

Dacia Spring, a model launched in 2021, ranked first among the best-selling 100pct electric cars last year, with 3,068 units, followed by Volkswagen Up! - with 435 units (+ 139pct) and Hyundai Kona (384 units, + 114.5pct).

In terms of Plug-in cars, the top 3 models are Renault Captur - with 269 units (14 times increase compared to 2020), Ford Kuga (261 units, + 203.5pct) and Hyundai Tucson (229 units, version launched in 2021).

At the same time, the hybrid cars category, without recharging from external sources, has Toyota Corolla ranking first - with 2,134 units, up 76.2pct compared to 2020, followed by Toyota C-HR (2,093 units, +32.7pct) and Toyota RAV4 (1,610 units, +75.6pct).

On the other hand, APIA data show that, in general, car registrations decreased by 4.1pct in 2021 compared to the previous year, a margin in which light commercial vehicles and minibuses registered a jump of 15.2pct, and heavy vehicles and buses an increase of 32.9pct.

On the national market, the hierarchy of brands of cars and commercial vehicles, after 2021, is led by Dacia (37,922 units), followed by Ford (11,516), Renault (10,147), Toyota (9,643), Hyundai (9,532) , Volkswagen (9,074), Skoda (7,967), Mercedes-Benz (6,962), Suzuki (4,397) and Peugeot (3,965).

In fact, out of the total market, cars represent about 82pct, on the background of a general decrease last year of 4.1pct, compared to 2020.

By type of fuel used, the share of gasoline cars decreased by 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous year, reaching a share of 65.7pct. At the same time, cars with diesel engines recorded a decline of 8.1 percentage points year on year, with a share of 18.8pct of the total.

Most car purchases in 2021 were made by legal entities, which cover 54pct of total car purchases, the remaining 46pct being for individuals.