Romania’s automotive market, in the limelight

The Rabla Plus and Rabla Clasic vehicle scrapping programmes are resumed on March 24

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Roxana Vasile, 22.03.2023, 13:50

Romanias automotive market saw the biggest growth in Europe this February, compared to last year. The number of vehicle registrations nation-wide went up 44.5%, to over 12,000 units, whereas in the entire EU over 800,000 vehicles were registered in February this year, according to data made public on Tuesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, which represents Europes top 16 carmakers.

A significant increase of registrations was reported for the French group Renault, particularly thanks to the Romanian brand Dacia, whose European market share has reached 5%, as against 3.6% last February. Taken over by Renault in 1999 and relaunched in 2004 with the Logan make, Dacia has grown steadily into a player with a reputation in the European market.

In Romania, a notable boost for sales comes from the Government, which has been earmarking funds for years under a scrapping programme called “Rabla”, which is highly popular among vehicle owners. This year, the Environment Ministry will channel some EUR 300 mln into the various components of the programme, in a move to get at least 100,000 vehicles older than 15 years off the roads.

The relevant minister, Tánczos Barna, announced on Friday that the “Rabla Clasic” and “Rabla Plus” programmes would be re-launched, with increased budgets. Apart from an increase of the voucher granted upon scrapping a car to some EUR 1,400 and of that for 2 cars scrapped to nearly EUR 2,000, buyers may also receive several bonuses, up to a total of over EUR 3,000.

Under the “Rabla Plus” programme, which concerns the purchase of electric or Plug-in Hybrid cars, the bonuses offered by the government go even higher, up to as much as EUR 10,000.

Apart from these two components, in a months time a third one will be launched, called “Rabla Local” and implemented jointly with local authorities.

Minister Tánczos Barna: “On April 21 we launch the Rabla Local programme. Before that, local authorities will be enrolling in the programme. So I urge all administrative units, all the town halls interested in joining the programme to step up the approval process in their local councils, as soon as the guidelines have been published in the Official Journal, so that they may enrol in due time and that we may start the programme on April 21.”

The budget for “Rabla Local” is close to EUR 50 mln, adding to which will be 20% provided by the local authorities involved. (AMP)