The Dacia Spring led a surge in demand for electric vehicles last month in Romania, where EVs gained at the expense of cars powered by liquefied petroleum gas.
With 642 sales, Dacia's first and only full-electric vehicle placed third overall among Romania's top-sellers behind a pair of sister models, the No. 1 Sandero small hatchback (1,172) and Duster small SUV (962) in second place, according to market researcher Dafaforce.
Dacia, which is part of Renault Group, is headquartered in Romania, where the Sandero and Duster are made, while the Spring is produced in China.
The Spring last month accounted for half of all EV sales in the country, where overall electric car sales rose 282 percent to 1,282 units
Demand for LPG models dipped 21 percent last month, making LPG the fuel type to record a decline in an overall market that rose 33 percent to 11,927 units.
"While the LPG market share dropped to 8.6 percent from 14.6 percent, the electric share grew to 10.7 percent in September from 3.8 percent during the same month last year," Dataforce Senior Automotive Analyst Benjamin Kibies said.
Romania's three months of sales declines (June-August) came to an end in September because of a 71 percent rise in commercial sales to 7,279 units, while sales to private customers were flat at 4,648.
With four models in the country's top five, Dacia was the dominant brand with 3,570 sales, an increase of 46 percent on the same month last year.
