Bucharest, Feb 6 /Agerpres/ - The Association of Romania's Automobile Manufacturers and Importers (APIA) is supporting the implementation of another vehicle scrappage programme with efficient subsidies of EUR 8,500 euros for electric vehicles, which will provide predictability at least until 2030, according to APIA Chairman Dan Vardie.

'APIA continues to be a reference pillar in providing precise analyses and visionary perspectives on the automotive industry in Romania, with a precision margin of up to 1%. The 2025 market developments will depend on both economic factors and consumer demand, as well as on political decisions that can speed up or slow down the transition to electromobility. As we saw in 2024, the sudden cut in subsidies for electric vehicle had a strong negative impact on the market. APIA remains an active partner in the dialogue with the authorities in 2025 and supports the implementation of another vehicle scrappage programme with efficient subsidies of 8,500 euros for EVs and which will provide predictability at least until 2030 and real support for the growth of the green vehicle segment. We advocate for complementary legislative measures for the development of charging station infrastructure and for the approval of concrete, planned steps towards sustainable mobility in Romania,' Vardie is quoted as saying in a press statement released on Thursday .

According to APIA's Automotive Market Forecast, the general market for new registered vehicles in 2025 will no longer be growing as in the last three years, with a slight decrease of 0.4% being estimated, with a number of 179,000 units sold.

'Although new cars will have a slight growth curve (+0.7%), a value also estimated for the HCV+Bus category (+0.7%), the market decline will be triggered by the contracting of the light commercial vehicles + minibus segment, which should decrease in the number of registrations by 8.3% in 2025.'

At the same time, electrified vehicles should increase by 34.6% from 2024, which is a much more intense pace than in previous years, a trend that will be directly influenced by the future subsidy conditions that will be established by the 'Rabla 2025' scrappage programme.

For vehicles, APIA's forecast for the current year shows the maintenance of the share of approximately 84% of the total registrations of new vehicles, with a volume of approximately 150,000 units, increasing by only 0.7%, from one year to another.

Within a more in-depth analysis, by the type of fuel of the registered vehicles, APIA predicts for the first time decreases in both types of classic engines, namely: gasoline cars will register a slight decrease (-4.5%) compared with 2024, making up 58% of the volume of vehicle registrations, while vehicles equipped with diesel engines should decline 39% to a market share of 8.3% of the total.

On the other hand, green cars, namely electric cars (100% electric and plug-in hybrids), as well as full hybrid cars (which also have electric propulsion without charging from an external source), are expected to gain a market share of 33.7% in 2025. Thus, in 2025 almost four times more eco-friendly cars are expected to be registered in Romania than those with diesel engines.

'All electric vehicles should recover the ground lost last year and return to sustained growth of +28.3%, with a share of about 25% of total electrified vehicle registrations and 8.3% of the total automobile market. The stars of 2025 should continue to be hybrids, with an estimated 41.7% growth and occupying almost 60% of the electrified vehicle market and 20% of the total automobile market', says APIA.

By classification, the developments should be mixed, as follows: A-Segment (+11.6%), B-Segment (-13.5%), C-Segment C (+1.4%), D-Segment (+3.4%), E-Segment (+8.9%), F-Segment (-9.1%), SUV (+3.6%), MPV (+23.5%) and Sport Segment (-6.7%).

'In terms of market share, the SUV segment will still be in the first position, with a share of approximately 50%, up from 2024, followed by the C-Class with a share of approximately 29% and the B-Class with a share of 12%, slightly down from the share held in 2024. Analyzing the evolution of registrations of all-wheel drive cars (4x4) in the last 5 years, we estimate that this category will hold a market share of approximately 24.7% in 2025, with an increase of only +0.8% in the number of registrations over last year.'

In the category of commercial vehicles plus minibuses, in 2025, a decrease of 8.3% is estimated from 2024, with a market share of the total number of registered vehicles of approximately 11.2%, a slightly lower level than that in the previous year, of 12.1%. 'The growth for registrations in the electrified LCV + Minibus category is estimated at approximately +19.3% y-o-y, according to APIA forecasts, which would imply a slowdown in the pace of previous years.

In the case of heavy commercial vehicles and buses, this category will maintain a slight growth rate of 0.7%, of which the electrified HCV+Bus segment will jump 8.9% this year. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Badea; RO - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)