Romania January 2026: Dacia Duster and Skoda Octavia top mediocre market (-33.5%)

The Skoda Octavia is up to a record 2nd place in January.

Mediocre start of the year for the Romanian new car market with sales down a painful -33.5% year-on-year to just 7,927. In all European markets we have covered so far (France, Spain and Italy), Dacia has endured appalling falls. It’s even more true at home where the brand is off a devastating -64% to just 18.2% share, which points at potential supply issues on top of unfavourable market conditions in Romania (December was particularly high and may have triggered pull forward sales). This is Dacia’s weakest market share since February 2021 (16.1%). Toyota (-19.4%) and Skoda (-22.6%) are both up one spot on last month to #2 and #3 respectively, taking advantage of Renault’s freefall (-64.9%), falling from #2 to #10. Volkswagen (-21.7%) is up two ranks to #4 while Mercedes (-13.3%) resists and gains 6 spots to #5, a record last reached almost 10 years ago in March 2015. BMW (-13.9%) and Ford (-18.3%) also contain their loss somewhat but the hero of the month is BYD (+311100%) cracking the Romanian Top 10 for the first time at #9 with 3.9% share, its previous best being #12 and 1.9% just last month.

Looking at the models charts, the Dacia Duster (-41.9%) is the faraway leader, selling more than twice as much as any other vehicle in market. It share (8.2%) is however below its Full Year 2025 level at 9%. The Skoda Octavia (-31.5%) is up six spots to #2, a record for the nameplate, last reached in April 2017. This means perennial leader the Dacia Logan (-75.7%) – #1 for the past 21 straight years – is down to #3, its lowest ranking at home since September 2022 (#4). The Toyota Yaris Cross (+27.8%) is up 8 spots on last month to a best-ever #4 (previous best #9), followed by the Toyota Corolla (+12.8%), both models actually up year-on-year. The new Dacia Bigster is down just one rank on December to #6 while the Tesla Model Y is up 333.3% to #8 and the new BYD Seal U breaks into the Top 10 at #9.

Previous post: Romania Full Year 2025: Dacia Logan and Duster each win 6 months

One year ago: Romania January 2025: Dacia Logan holds back Duster in disappointing market

Full January 2026 Top 51 All brands and Top 272 All models below.