Dacia automobiles sold in Romania over 18,000 cars during January - May. The same company counted twice the number of cars sold in Germany: over 36,000, according to Dacia representatives. 13,000 of them were sold through the 'old car' scheme, which has a 2,500 euros cassation bonus.

Despite the fact that Romania has always been the largest market for Dacia, and France followed it at a large distance, this year the situation changed partly because of the 'old car' scheme, partly because of the financial crisis.

There were 18,140 Dacia sold in Romania during the first five months of the year. The Germans bought over 23,000 Sanderos and over 13,000 Logans, amounting to over 2% of the German car market. May was a prolific month for Dacia: the car company sold over 9,000 Sanderos and over 4,000 Logans.

In Romania, Dacia owned 26% of the car market last year and was recording 27% last month because the Romanian car market decreased more than the company's production. January was the worst month for Dacia in years on the national market, selling less than 2,000 cars.

Dacia will launch a new model on Wednesday in Romania: Sandero Stepway. The car is already sold in Brazil under Renault's brand.

The German 'old car' scheme allowed Dacia to double the production this spring at the plant in Mioveni, Romania.