Romania Passenger Car Sales : 2025

Registrations were up 4% for the year, which sounds unspectacular. The year started slowly and was down 22% half way through the year. Then it took off and in positive territory by the end. Both August and December were up over 50%. 

A cash for clunkers scheme later in the year was presumably a factor. It may have contributed to some major shifts in sales volumes too as there are some noticeable movements. New entrants would have that effect as well.

Local brand Dacia leads the way and then some. Its share is down very slightly compared to 2024 but still in a commanding position. Toyota's market share of 9.3% is a record for the marque in Romania. 

MG is up to 11th in only its second full year in the country, so quite an improvement. BYD has already made a splash in just a partial year of trading here and they weren't the only Chinese brand to do so. They may be a bit late to the party but Chinese brands seem intent on making up for lost time. 

Data source: DGPCI. Pictures: Dacia (Sandero Stepway & Bigster).

Polestar Deliveries : 2025

Polestar started in 1996 as a racing team for Volvo cars. In 2025. Volvo acquired it in 2025 and two years later it was decided to make it an perfermance electric car brand.

Deliveries commenced in the latter part of 2022 and in 2023, nearly 53,000 found homes. 2024 deliveries dropped 15% but in 2025 they rebounded by 34%.

The 60,000 units sold in 2025 is a record for the marque with each quarter up on the corresponding one a year earlier. The company doesn't break deliveries down by model.

Photo source: Polestar. 

Historical deliveries can be found by clicking here.

Volvo Global Sales : 2024-25

Volvo deliveries were down 7% in 2025. 710,000 units or 53,000 fewer than 2024. In these tring times for the car industry no big deal. So what is hot and what is not?

Models: The XC60 (picture above) did OK and there were some new model, which combined did the total no harm. The rest of the range was down and in some cases substantially. The EM90 electric MPV (picture bottom of page) made for the Chinese market seems to have flopped badly from the very beginning. It's Chinese brands that are dominating their home BEV market. 

Data & picture source: Volvo Cars.

Regions: Europe accounted for nearly half the sales (47%), but deliveries are down 10%. Foreign brands have been suffering in China and despite Chinese ownership and Volvo hasn't been entirely immune although a 4% drop isn't too bad.  

The US is the only region that has improved but I wonder if that was due to customers buying before prices rise and the termination of incentives. If so, 2026 will reveal that. 

BEV Regions: Volvo was going to be an electric car brand only by 2030 but that is no longer the plan. That is an obvious decision to make as we can see below. Electric sales are down 13% in 2025. The main region for Volvo regarding BEVs is Europe and that is down 22% YTD.