On the one hand, Romanians are facing an economic crisis of astronomical proportions, with unstoppable inflation and energy and fuel prices that will be reflected in every corner of our existence in Romania. On the other hand, Romanians also registered in the first three months of 2022 most cars in Europe.
The Romanian car market increased in the first three of this year by no less than 39.6%. This is the largest increase in the European Union and was confirmed by ACEA, the report of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Romania versus Europe, an exception
In the first quarter of this year, no less than 2,753,256 vehicles entered the European market. Because it is clear that the old continent is going through a difficult financial period, that value is 10.6% lower even than the same period in the second year of the pandemic, 2021. As a substantive detail, among the 2.75 million were sold in Europe, only 2.24 million were registered within the European Union.
However, while the car market in Europe contracted, a shocking discrepancy could be observed in Romania. In our country, there was an increase in the number of new cars registered by no less than 39.6%, compared to the first quarter of the previous year. There are 28,978 new cars in total.
In some countries, such as Slovakia (19,221 units, + 24.8%) and Bulgaria (6,674 units, + 19.5%), there have been increases, but the situation in Romania does not have a logical explanation, except that they are a lot of money in the market, and the Romanians hurried to spend it. It’s as if they can’t wait to buy a new car, because the not insignificant amounts made a hole in their wallet.
Beyond Romania’s performance, the largest European car market remains Germany, even in 2022, with 625,954 registered units. It is followed by the United Kingdom (417,560 units), France (365,360 units), Italy (338,258 units) and Spain (164,399 units).