Porsche Romania, the importer of Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen cars for Romania, has revised its sales targets upwards after results from the car market for the first half of the year exceeded even the most upbeat expectations.

"We estimate car sales and turnover will go up by 15%," said Brent Valmar, general manager of Porsche Romania.

As the company announced a turnover of 300 million euros for last year, this year''s turnover is expected to approach 350 million euros, while sales of cars should also exceed 21,000 units.

Porsche Romania''s sales of imported cars for the first half of the year have already surpassed 13,500 units, corresponding to a 75% increase on the same period last year, company representatives say.

With the second half of the year normally being better for car sales than the first, Porsche Romania is also likely to announce better than expected growth for the entire year. Last year''s turnover grew by 55 million euros to 300 million euros, making it the largest car importer on the market in terms of turnover.

The Volkswagen group importer is not the only company to have issued higher forecasts for the year. Renault Nissan Romania, the importer for Renault and Nissan, has announced a sales target of 15,000 units, around 11% up on its results for 2004 (13,500 units). After six months of this year, Renault sales increased to 10,000 units, a relatively smaller increase at twice the level for the same period last year.

This situation is also seen for other importers of both European and Asian models, which have encountered difficulties in meeting their orders.

Even the domestic producer, Dacia, is in a similar situation after having already raised its sales target for Romania from 100,000 to 120,000 units.

ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro Porsche Romania, th