New car imports rose by 50 percent in Romania in the first five months of the year due to the rise in Romanians' purchasing power, the national Rompres news agency reported on Thursday.

Big importers on the auto market, such as Porsche Romania, Renault or dealers from Tiriac Auto Group reported sales hikes by up to 60 percent over January - May, compared to last year.

Porsche Romania, the biggest importer, Renault, in third place for sales and Romcar, in fourth place, announced beyond-expectation results.

General Motors Romania, the second-biggest importer, whose brands on the local market are Opel and Chevrolet, has yet to make public sales data available for the examined period, but the target is 27,000 units sold in 2007, a surge in excess of 50 percent against 2006.

Together the four companies control almost two thirds of the imported vehicles on the market.

Porsche Romania sold 21,703 cars in the first five months of 2007, 41 percent more than last year's figure of 15,388.

Renault reported an even bigger increase of 49.2 percent, having sold more than 11,600 vehicles on the Romanian market since the beginning of 2007.

The purchasing of new cars is an accentuated phenomenon, due to purchasing power rising in this Eastern European country, Vice-president of the Association of Automobiles Producers and Importers Constantin Stroe said.