Car market may drop 30% in 2009, officials say

The sales of new cars in Romania may drop up to 30% next year, in case the pollution tax isn’t revised on January 1, 2009, said Constantin Stroe, president of the Romanian Car Constructors’ Association (ACAROM), in a statement for HotNews.ro on Tuesday. The existing tax encourages the second-hand cars market, Stroe considers.

„With this tax, a market of 200,000 new cars in 2009 would be a true performance”, said Stroe. The market reached 300,000 new cars in 2007 and is expected to decrease slightly in 2008. The sales of used cars doubled in 2008 and the percentage of cars older than 10 years on the market increased from 7% to 40% out of all second-hand imports.