





Car markets in free fall in January. Romania drops 53%
In all 28 states, a total of 958,000 new cars were registered in January, compared to over 1.3 million in January 2008. The most important losses were recorded in Iceland (-88%), Latvia (-77%), Lithuania (-67%), Ireland (-66%), Estonia (-62%) and Romania (-53%).
The large markets were also affected, even though less catastrophic: Germany lost 14%, France - 8%, Spain - 42%, UK - 31%.
The only brand that sold better in January, compared to last year's first month, was Jaguar, increasing 19%, up to 2,000 units. Land Rover lost 62%, from over 9,000 to less than 4,000 units, while Chrysler dropped from over 9,000 units to less than 5,000.
The largest market share belongs to Volkswagen (11%), followed by Ford (9.3%), Peugeot (7.1%) and Fiat (7%).