Romania's sales of new eco cars down almost 1pct, in first five months of 2020

Romania's sales of new eco cars reached 2,223 units in the first five months of the year, decreasing by 0.80 percent against the same period of 2019, according to the data of the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA), interrogated by AGERPRES.

According to the official data, the share of electric and hybrid cars in the total domestic market stands at 5.7 percent, over the level of the similar interval of 2019, when it stood at 3.9 percent.

Between January and May 2020, most green cars sold were hybrid vehicles - 1,640 units, down 8.7 percent compared to the period between January and May 2019.

On the other hand, the electric car sales registered a jump of 19.5 percent up to 374 units, whereas the sales of plug-in vehicles stood at 209 units, by almost 60 percent more against the reference period.

The first place in the ranking of the most sold all-electric vehicles, January - May, 2020 was occupied by Renault with 136 units, followed by BMW (55), Volkswagen (43 units), Nissan (34), Hyundai and Skoda (22 each), Smart (20), Mercedes-Benz (11), Jaguar and Tesla (10 each) and others (11).

At the same time, most of the hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) sold in Romania, January - May 2020 came from Toyota (1,339 units), Lexus (85), Honda (60), Ford (39), Suzuki (30), Hyundai (28), Volvo (23), Land Rover (12), Kia (9), Mini (8) and others (7).

Moreover, most plug-in vehicles sold in Romania came from BMW with 50 units, followed by Volvo with 41 units, Porche (35), Mitsubishi (18), Hyundai (16), Mercedes Benz (13), Kia (9), Land Rover (7), Mini and Volkswagen (5 each) and other brands (11 units).

According to the quoted source, in May, a number of 401 eco-friendly vehicles were sold in Romania, up 62.34 percent compared to the same month of last year, when 247 units were sold.

Data from the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests (MMAP), recently published, show that almost half of the total eco-tickets allocated for the "Rabla Plus" (car scrappage scheme) in 2020 were booked in less than three months from the start of the programme, and 90 percent of those who accessed this facility chose a full electric car.

Thus, the eco-ticket reservations made available through the government programme reached 1,225 cars, compared to just over 1,000 vehicles booked in the same period of the previous year.

For 2020, the MMAP, through the Environment Fund Administration (AFM), made available to citizens and companies in Romania the largest budget in the history of the Rabla Plus programme, 140 million lei, respectively, by about 45 million more against 2019, which enables up to 3,000 electric and hybrid cars to roll on Romania's roads.