"Dacia" sees a 12.5% increase in the number of cars sold in Europe

• The Romanian market for new cars posted the fifth largest decline in the European Union

Registrations of Dacia vehicles in Europe increased 12.5% in the January-September 2010 period, compared to last year, from 196,305 units to 174,469 units, according to data published by the European Automobile Manufacturers" Association (ACEA).

The market share of Dacia increased slightly, from 1.6 to 1.9%. A higher growth rate was seen in the case of registrations of Dacia cars in the Western market. In the first three quarters of 2010, 162,202 units had been registered, compared to 135,943 units in the similar period of 2009. "Dacia" now controls 1.6% of the car market of Western Europe, up from 1.3% in the first nine months of 2009.

In September this year, 15,766 cars made by "Dacia" were registered in Europe, up 12.5% compared to September 2009 (14,024 units). In that period, the company"s market share increased slightly, from 1 to 1.3%.

The "Renault" group sold over 1 million units in the 28 markets it is present on, in the first nine months of 2010, up 10.8% over the same period of 2009, when it sold 968,503 cars.

Dacia ranks fourth the in chart of European carmakers, in terms of the advance in the number of new car registrations, which increased 11.4% during the reviewed period. "Land Rover" saw the largest increase in the number of new car registrations (27.8%), followed by "Nissan" (15.5%) and "Volvo" (13.2%).

In terms of carmaker groups, "Volkswagen" saw the largest number of registrations (2.17 million units, down 4.3%), "PSA Peugeot Citroen" (1.4 million cars, up 0.4%) and "Renault" (1.05 million units, up 10.5%).

The domestic market for new cars saw a major decline this year, the fifth largest in the European Union, (-29.7%), compared to the average drop of 4.3% at a community level, according to the ACEA. 62,348 new cars had been registered in Romania, by the end of September 2010, compared to 88,641 by the end of last year"s similar period. The total number of new car registrations in the European Union reached 10.25 million.