Porsche Romania could become the first car importer to overshoot the 1 billion-euro sales mark on the domestic market, if it maintains a sales rate of a minimum of 4,000 units a month and reaches a total of 55,000 units.

If the importer continues to advance at a 40% rate, the overall value of the imported vehicle market could reach 4 billion euros, after it exceeded 3 billion euros last year.

In the first seven months of the year, imported cars registered a 53% sales increase, much higher than initially anticipated by market players, due to the acquisition of personal cars being aided by the appreciation of the domestic currency and the slight reduction in the interest rates for financing options.

All in all, the domestic car market advanced by 22.4% between January and July, while estimates at the start of the year indicated a slower rate, of between 7 and 10%.

The growth rate of VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda and Porsche on the domestic market increased by 37% in the first eight months, to 37,296 units, against the same time last year, because of new model launches and market growth.

According to ZF estimates, the total value of cars sold by Porsche Romania exceeded 600 million euros in the first eight months of the year, and is forecast to exceed one billion euros by the end of 2007, if the current growth trend continues.

The over 37,000 cars delivered by the importer up until the end of August confirm the growth potential, with sales in the first eight months only 6,000 units less against overall sales registered in 2006.

Porsche Romania posted a 750 million euro turnover and 62.5 million euro net profit last year and was the number one importer judging by the its financial results.

If the growth rate of the Skoda importer continues, it will join the "club" which includes Petrom, Lukoil, Rompetrol Rafinare, Electrica, Mittal