Romanian New-Car Registrations Drop 36.85% in August as Rabla Launch Comes Late
Romania registered 9,552 new passenger cars in August 2026, down 36.85% year on year and nearly 19% from July. Battery-electric registrations fell during the month, although their January-August total remained 50% above the same period of 2025.
August decline deepens the annual contraction
Romania registered 9,552 new passenger cars in August 2026, a decline of 36.85% from the same month of 2025, according to registration statistics published by the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACAROM, and reported by Alba24. A preliminary analysis by the Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association, APIA, rounded the annual decrease to 37%.
The August result was also weak compared with July, when 11,740 new passenger cars were registered. Monthly volume consequently fell by nearly 19%. The sharp one-month contraction deepened the market's decline for the year: registrations totaled 86,142 vehicles in January-August 2026, compared with 95,843 in the corresponding period of 2025. The difference of 9,701 vehicles represents a 10.12% year-on-year decrease.
Dacia retains the lead
Dacia remained Romania's leading new-car brand in August, with 2,142 registrations. Toyota ranked second with 1,229 vehicles, followed by Skoda with 845, according to APIA's preliminary figures. The model ranking reinforced Dacia's position: the Logan led with 809 registrations, followed by the Duster with 637. Toyota's Corolla was third with 490.
The figures indicate that buyers continued to favor established high-volume models even as the overall market contracted. Dacia accounted for more than one-fifth of August registrations, based on the reported totals, and held the first two positions in the model ranking. For manufacturers and dealers, the widening annual decline increases the importance of inventory management, financing offers and the timing of deliveries supported by government incentives.
Electric cars fall in August but rise year to date
Electrified passenger-car registrations fell 31% from August 2025, APIA reported. Within that category, registrations of fully electric battery vehicles declined 29% to 669 units, equivalent to about 7% of all new passenger cars registered during the month.
The monthly result contrasts with the cumulative figures. ACAROM said 7,018 fully electric cars were registered during the first eight months of 2026, 50% more than in the same period of 2025. Hybrid registrations reached 49,282 vehicles in January-August, an increase of 2.1%. The figures suggest that August's weakness did not erase the battery-electric segment's substantial year-to-date growth, while hybrids continued to expand at a slower pace.
Late incentive launch leaves impact for later months
Romania's 2026 Rabla Auto scrappage program for individuals opened only on August 25. Its total budget is 300 million lei, 100 million lei above the budget for the 2025 session. Demand for electric-vehicle support was immediate: the allocation of 94.918 million lei was exhausted in less than one hour on August 25, with 7,874 applications registered in that category.
The late opening provides context for the weak market, but the registration data do not establish it as the sole cause of the August decline. Vehicles financed through the session may appear in registration statistics only in subsequent months, making the autumn data important for assessing whether the program can lift electric and hybrid deliveries.
The used-car market also contracted. First-time Romanian registrations of second-hand passenger cars totaled 25,923 in August, down 14.5% year on year. In January-August, 199,570 used cars imported from abroad were registered, 13.4% fewer than the 230,547 recorded a year earlier. Despite that decline, the imported used-car market remained more than twice the size of the new-car market, at roughly 200,000 vehicles against 86,142.