Porsche Romania, the importer of Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Porsche brands, derived turnover worth 630 million euros, up by 34% against 2005.
"The rise in turnover was mainly generated by the market growth, amid a prosperous economy, the new products launched by most of the car brands, as well as the campaigns organised by importers. We estimate the market will grow by approximately 10%," said Brent Valmar, the general manager of Porsche Romania.
The market of imported cars amounted to exactly 137,252 units, up by 34% against 2005, according to the statistics published by the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA). The vehicle market grew by 19% to 256,363 units in 2006.
"The programme that was aimed at renewing the car fleet had the expected effect, and Romanians chose to invest in (...) cars, due to their increasing need for mobility. The excellent financing offers, along with the domestic currencyes appreciation against the euro and the dollar have been also significant catalysts behind the growth witnessed over the recent years," said Valmar.
The trend was noticed in the market as well, therefore, certain Skoda models entered the segments dedicated to the medium-income consumers. Skoda was the brand that pushed up and maintained the Porsche Romania on the first position in the ranking of importers, accounting for almost half of the cars sold, which is a 39% rise to 20,541 units.
Octavia Tour was the best selling model, 6,194 units, followed by the medium-sized Fabia, 4,891 units and by Octavia, 4,703 units. Roomster, the groupes small-sized model sold 75 units by December 31.
Volkswagen ranked second in terms of results, having seen some 28% rise sales in 2006 to 14,392 units. The sales of Polo amounted to almost 5,000 units amid the launch of the new model while Golf, in all the car body variants, sold 3,900 units.
The sale of new cars is not the only growth strategy adopted by the company, as Porsche Romaniaes growth policy is also based on the significant investments made over the last few years, through which it created a network of dealers in accordance with the parameters imposed by the manufacturer, as well as a distribution and buy-back network for the used cars. "We wanted to expand the services provided to our clients and the growth of the Weltauto network throughout the country is an important step in this direction," added Valmar.
