Poland remains the largest market of new car sales in Central and Eastern Europe in the first nine months of this year, followed by Romania, whose car sales raced ahead during the period, Poland's leading newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported on Monday.

While Poland has been the largest market in Central and Eastern European (CEE) over the years, its new car sales dropped 27 percent to 184,000 units in the first three quarters, due to a boom in second-hand car sales.

The slump in Poland's new car sales market comes as many consumers in the CEE region's biggest economy are more eager to purchase second-hand cars from Western Europe rather than to buy new autos locally.

Since Poland joined the European Union in May till October, the country had imported a total of 1.5 million second-hand cars from Western Europe.

By contrast, new car sales in Romania in the first three quarters of the year jumped by 38 percent to 157,000 units.

Sales of the Logan, an economical car tailor-made for such CEE countries as Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic, jumped to 71,500 units in these countries during the first nine months of the year, compared with 46,000 units a year earlier.

Hungary, with a sales volume of 144,000 units, a figure slightly down from last year, ranked third in new car sales in theCEE states; the Czech Republic, 111,000 units, on a par with last year, ranked fourth.

In fifth and sixth places are Slovenia, with a sales volume of 48,000 news cars, slightly down from last year and Slovakia, 44,000 units, on a par with last year.

Meanwhile, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association last week, new car sales in Europe for the first 10 months of the year were down 10.9 percent compared with the same period of 2004.

Source: Xinhua