Dacia

Country

Romania

Parent

Renault (France) - 99.4%

Subsidiaries

Brands

Dacia

Location

Headquarters and factory: Mioveni

Sales figures

Sales of Dacia brand models:
2017: 655,235 units
2016: 584,219 units
2015: 550,920 units
2014: 511,465 units
2013: 429,540 units
2012: 359,822 units
2011: 343,233 units
2010: 348,723 units
2009: 311,332 units
2008: 258,472 units
2007: 230,483 units
2006: 196,708 units
2005: 164,406 units

Introduction

Romanian car maker Dacia was established with the help of Renault in the late 1960s. 30 years later, they were united again. Now privatized and fully under the control of Renault, Dacia is assigned as the production base of cheap cars supplying Europe.

Brief History

In 1968, Romania government signed an agreement with Renault to produce Renault 8 and 12 under license in its newly built plant. These cars became Dacia 1100 and 1300 respectively. The 1300 series was hugely popular in the domestic market as Romania people had no alternatives. Eventually some 2 million units were built until its retirement in 2004. It was therefore the definitive Dacia model people would remember.

Dacia 1300 (1969)

Since its relationship with Renault terminated in 1978, Dacia kept improving its Renault design by its own effort. In 1995, it finally launched the first car 100% designed by itself, the Dacia Nova. However, this car was quite outdated by the world standards. As Romania was joining European Union, Dacia would not survive the competition in an open market with these products. Therefore in 1999 the government decided to privatize it and sold 50% stakes to Renault. 4 years later, Renault increased its stakes to over 99%, thus Dacia became its full subsidiary.

Dacia Nova (1995)

Taking advantage of the low production costs in Romania, Renault used Dacia to produce its super-cheap "5000 Euro" car, Logan, both for domestic sales and export.