Cars: PwC Autofacts: New vehicle sales will increase by around 1.1% this year in Romania

Sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles on the Romanian market are estimated to grow by 1.1% this year compared to 2024, with Romania and Slovakia being the only Central European markets to end 2025 in surplus, according to the PwC Autofacts report conducted on five markets* in the region. The car market in Slovakia is expected to rise by 2%, while Poland and Hungary will stagnate and the Czech Republic will decrease by 3%.   “The new car market ended 2024 relatively well and the outlook is optimistic for 2025. The trend is encouraging considering the phenomenon of accelerated aging of the car fleet in Romania. In order to limit this phenomenon, measures are needed to stimulate the purchase of new cars, for example a new tax system for cars based on ecological principles. Such a measure is provided for in the PNRR and should be met for payment request number four in June, according to the authorities. In our opinion, taxation based on ecological principles can take into account measures that are in line with European legislation and are applied by other member states, such as the revision of the annual tax by introducing the environmental component, the environmental contribution to the registration of passenger cars or the introduction of the traffic contribution,” said Daniel Anghel, Country Managing Partner and Leader of the automotive industry PwC Romania.   Romania has the third oldest car fleet in the European Union, with an average age of 15.4 years, compared to the EU average of 12.5 years, being surpassed by the Czech Republic (16.2) and Greece (17.5), according to the latest report of the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) – Vehicles on European roads January 2025.   According to the same report, 8.1 million cars were on the roads in Romania in 2023, of which 6.5 million are older than 10 years. Only 1.5% are electric, plug-in hybrid or electric hybrid.   The reduction of the subsidy from 10,000 euros to 5,100 euros in 2024 led to the decrease of sales of electric vehicles in Romania by more than 30%.   Dacia remains the first car brand in terms of sales at national level, with a share of 30.2%, despite a 2.8% decrease in 2024 compared to the previous year. Only Toyota (+21.5%), Hyundai (+16.9%) and Mercedes-Benz (+13.2%) topped the market’s 4% growth, with Hyundai edging out Skoda and Mercedes-Benz over Suzuki, Autofacts shows. Sales of light commercial vehicles are expected to fall by 7.5% in 2025, with Renault cutting its sales by almost half. However, the light commercial vehicle segment should recover by 2028, along with strong growth in the number of passenger cars, with the overall advance estimated at over 20% compared to 2024.   After in 2024, production in Romania increased by 9% compared to 2023, to around 560,000, from this year it will enter a downward trend. From the resumption of light commercial vehicle production in 2023 after a ten-year hiatus, the annual volume in 2024 reached 84,000 units or a share of 15.1%. Although the share of light commercial vehicle production is expected to grow steadily until 2030, when it will reach a share of 21.8% of the total, estimates show that overall Romanian car production (cars and light commercial vehicles) will decline by 2.7% annually between 2025 and 2030. The decline is the result of further reductions in Renault production, while Ford will follow a steady trajectory, according to the Autofacts report.   Regionally, sales and production will decline   In 2024, light vehicle sales in the five Central European markets analyzed totaled nearly 1.3 million units, up 9.3% compared to the previous year. For 2025, however, a completely different evolution is predicted, with a decrease of 0.2% expected, the economic sentiment deteriorating in the last quarter of the year in all the states of the region.   After returning to pre-COVID levels in 2023, vehicle production fell slightly by 1.2% in the markets analyzed. Despite a 30.8% increase in utility vehicles, the 4% decline in passenger cars had a negative impact on overall performance. In the medium term, light vehicle production is expected to fall slightly below the four million mark.   Also, by 2028, the top car manufacturers in the region will undergo changes compared to 2024, with Hungary moving from fifth place to the third position, as a result of increased Mercedes-Benz production.   The Czech Republic will remain the largest producer in the region, but will see the most significant drop in production, coming close to the level of second-placed Slovakia.   The next places in the top will be occupied by Poland, on four, and Romania, on five.   *The markets analyzed in this report are Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.