Romania 2001-2002: Dacia SupeRNova new best seller

The Dacia SupeRNova ends 32 years of domination by the 1310.

New car sales in Romania perk back up a little in 2001 at +9% to 88.527 units. Dacia (+3.8%) can’t quite match the market growth rate, resulting in a dip below the 60% share mark at 58.8%. Daewoo (-44.1%) collapses to just 7.5%, now threatened by Renault (+37.2%) while Skoda (+115.7%), Volkswagen (+91.6%), Peugeot (+69.6%) and Fiat (+24.5%) continue to gallop ahead. Model-wise, we witness a rare event in pole position: a change of guard!  After 32 years of domination of the Dacia 1310, the Dacia SupeRNova (with capital R and N) succeeds where its predecessor the Nova failed, up 10-fold on 2000 to hit 25.1% share, becoming the first Romanian-designed car to top its home sales charts. The Dacia Clasic aka 1310 (-42.8%) is down to 21% while its pickup variant (+4.6%) resists at 12.7% share. Renault manages to places the Megane (-8.3%) and Clio (+107.2%) inside the Top 6.

In 2002, the Romanian new car market leaps 23.2% to return above the 100.000 annual mark for the first time since 1999 at 109.041. Sales are starting to fragment under the arrival more and more imported brands, and as a result Dacia (+1.4%) falls below the half-market milestone at 48.4% for the first time since we started tracking Romania in 1995. Daewoo (+96.9%) is back to solid #2 at 12% share, leaving Renault (+44.2%) in the dust at 8.3%. Mercedes (+163.9%), Peugeot (+117.9%), Opel (+87.3%), Ford (+70.3%) and Volkswagen (+45%) all post spectacular gains in the remainder of the Top 10. The Dacia SupeRNova (+13.3%) repeats at #1 but drops to 23% share, while the Dacia Clasic (-15.1%) continues to weaken at 14.4%, however staying above its pickup variant (+5.7%) at 10.9%. The Daewoo Matiz (+524.5%) shoots up 6 spots on 2001 to #4 while the Renault Clio (+62.6%) becomes the best-selling import for the first time.

Full Year 2001 and 2002 Top 43 All-brands and Top 250 All-models below.