August 26 (SeeNews) - Romania could record the largest drop in sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Central Europe this year, but will make a rapid recovery exceeding the pre-COVID crisis volume threshold until 2023, PwC consultancy said on Wednesday.
Sasles of new cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) in Romania are expected to decrease by an annual 24.3% in 2020, to 137,000 units, according to Autofacts report compiled by the PwC network at European level and based on IHS Markit data.
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By 2023, car sales in Romania are seen rising to 223,000 units, according to the report.
"The car market, one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with closed factories and the collapse of sales during lockdown, is starting to recover easily from one month to the next. But returning to 2019 volumes and exceeding them will be long-lasting, as consumers regain confidence to spend," PwC Romania partner and automotive industry department leader Daniel Anghel said.
"The good news is that the forecasts for Romania are among the most optimistic, compared to the rest of the Central European markets, amid the plans of the two local manufacturers to add new models of hybrid category."
New passenger car registrations in Romania decreased by 30.7% year-on-year to 49,616 in the first six months of 2020, while those of new commercial vehicles plummeted by an annual 36.7% to 8,55, the latest provisional data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, ACEA, indicated.
Regarding the production of vehicles in Romania, Autofacts and IHS estimates show a decrease of 16.3% this year, to 410,000 units, and an exponential increase until 2027, to 794,000 units, based on the plans of the two manufacturers operating in the country - Ford and Renault.
In 2019, Ford launched the production of the new Puma at the plant in Craiova and plans to add LCV volumes. Renault intends to increase the production volume at its plant in Pitesti, which, in addition, is expected to record the largest capacity utilization rate among factories in Central Europe, according to the report.
Romania ranks third in terms of decrease in car production in Central Europe this year, by 16.1% - the same rate as in Slovakia. The steepest decline is expected for the Czech Republic, of 23.7%, followed by Hungary, with 18.5%.
London-headquartered PwC is a multinational professional services network present in more than 158 countries and employing some 276,000 people.