Car sales of domestic producers increased by 23% in May, to more than 14,600 units against the same time last year, after having posted an overall decrease of 14.3% during the January-April period compared with the first four months of 2006, according to the statistical data released by the Association of Car Producers and Importers (APIA).

Of the 14,600 cars, Dacia sold around 11,770 units and cumulated a market share of 32.9%. Automobile Craiova delivered a total of 2,840 cars during the above-mentioned period, gaining a 7.5% market share, 2 percentage points higher than the general average of the first five months.

The overall volume of the Romanian car market advanced by around 40% in May compared with last year, to around 38,000 registrations and generated an almost twice as high growth rate than the approximately 19% rate reached during the January-April period. In the first five months of this year, 97,300 cars of both domestic and foreign origin were sold in Romania.

In May, the output of passenger and commercial vehicles delivered from domestic plants reached almost 25,450 units (a 27.5% increase), with more than 10,000 being exported. The production of passenger cars in Romania in the first five months amounted to 94,656 units, up 6.9% on the same period in 2006. However, exports witnessed a much faster growth rate, of 33.5%, corresponding to a number of 48,157 delivered units.

The main export countries for Automobile Dacia, the top exporter in terms of volume, were France, Spain and Italy. For 2007, Dacia expects global sales to revolve around 225,000 units. Import cars last month saw their growth rate slow down to 50%, to over 71,042 cars. Imports' overall growth rate in the first 4 months reached 58%, against the same period in 2006. The leading position was filled by Renault brand, which, with the aid of the Clio model, sold a to