Dacia News

Dacia celebrates the production of five million cars at the Romanian factory in Pitesti. The Romanian car manufacturer reached the previous milestone of four million cars three years ago.

Dacia marked a new milestone of production at the Pitesti factory, celebrating the production of 5,000,000 vehicles. The last milestone was reached by Dacia in March 2011, when the 4,000,000 car left the Mioveni factory. In both cases, it is a Duster model, and both copies were bought by Romanian customers. The daily production of the Duster model represents more than 50% of the total production, according to the Romanian car manufacturer officials.

The first million vehicles produced by Dacia was celebrated in 1985 and the anniversary model was a Dacia 1310. The second milestone came a year before becoming a Renault brand, the 2,000,000 car was a Dacia 1307 with double cab. Under the French leadership, the third million cars produced by Dacia came nine years later, the anniversary model was a Dacia Logan MCV. In a year the Dacia Pitesti factory can produce 350,000 units and last year, 93% of the production of the factory went to export.

In 2013, Dacia had the highest sales growth in Europe, 21.1% in the first 11 months of the year, surpassing more important brands, despite the fact that Dacia has a market share of just 2.4 % in Europe. This situation could be repeated in 2014, if we look at the evolution of Dacia sales in Europe in the first four months of 2014. The Pitesti manufacturer had in March the highest percentage sales increase in the European market, according to a ACEA analysts. According to ACEA, Dacia sales increased by 53.5% in March and with 42.7% in the first quarter, compared with 2013 results.

The second generation of Logan has received the Renault logo for the Russian market, and the first photos have been released to the public.

The second generation of the Logan will soon make its debut on the Russian market under the Renault logo. Although the new generation has more than a year since the launch in Europe, some markets are harder to reach. For example, in Russia, Renault still sells the facelift version of Logan, but soon this model will be replaced by the new generation.

The first images were already presented to the public and, unlike the Dacia version, the  Logan for the Russian market has some chrome elements and of course Renault logo on the front grille. The interior is also almost identical to the Dacia version, but there are changes to the shape of the central air holes plus a series of chromed ornaments.

The Renault representatives din not communicated the engines that will power the Logan for the Russian market. The commercial debut of the Renault Logan second generation will take place in the second quarter of this year. In Russia, Renault is selling the following models: Duster, Sandero, Sandero Stepway, Megane, Fluence, Latitude, Koleos, Megane and Kangoo, and is one of the major players in the automotive market in this country.

Dacia managed to sell in Europe in 2013 with almost 25% more than in the previous year, a growth that makes the Romanian car manufacturer the performer of the year in Europe.

If the journalists and customers impressions in a year with several launches were good, Dacia sales results in Europe in 2013 confirm the excellent form of the Pitesti manufacturer. Thus, Dacia was able to register the highest growth among all existing brands in the European market an it is one of the hottest brands of the year.

In a market decreasing by 1.7% compared to 2012 (11.85 million cars sold in Europe in 2013), the Dacia sales rose by 23.3%, the Romanian car manufacturer managed to reach a volume of 289,000 cars sold (compared to 234,400 cars sold in 2012). The launches of the new generation of Logan, Sandero and Duster facelift had a very important role in this result, the European customers focusing on the quality/price ratio offered by the Renault Group brand.
Of the nearly 300,000 cars sold in Europe, 17,500 were sold in Romania, Dacia managed to grow by 7.7% on the national market, while the Romanians bought 13.3% fewer cars in 2013 compared to 2012. In total, the sales of new cars in Romania reached 57,700 units, the lowest level in the last 15 years.

Even more notable is the market share of Dacia (2.4%), one of each 42 cars sold in Europe had the Romanian brand logo. The Dacia position in the Renault Group has also been seriously strengthened in 2013: while the Renault sales fell 1.1% in Europe, the excellent evolution of the Romanian manufacturer resulted in a 4.4% sales increase of the Renault Group in Europe.

A Hungarian designer presented a concept design of a Dacia Logan coupe. Based on the pictures of this concept design, a car magazine in the UK has initiated a survey and the result is that the Logan coupe would be a “hot car”.

X-Tomi Design presents on his blog a Dacia Coupe model, inspired by the new Logan facelift, but smaller and shorter, with custom bumpers.
The Britains from CarThrottle took these pictures and asked the readers: Is the concept Dacia Coupe Hot or Not? On this question, 241 readers, or 86% of all voters by this time, answered "hot".

We like Dacia Sandero: it’s a decent car for those who otherwise could not afford the "luxury" of having a new car. But what happens when the Romanian car manufacturer will launch a coupe or a sport model? "ask the British journalists.

They Car Throttle journalists appreciate that the Dacia Coupe model, presented bt X-Tomi Design, based on Logan, looks great, has sport bumpers and wheel arches that house larger wheels.
"A simple coupe that looks good or a cheaper model that strives too much to look sport? You Decide!" concludes the British.

The Dacia cars registrations in the UK market last year reached a volume of 17,146 cars and a market share of 0.76%, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which positioned the Romanian car manufacturer on the 23rd place among the best selling brands in the United Kingdom.

The main rival of Dacia in the UK, the American car manufacturer Chevrolet recorded sales of nearly 11,700 registered cars.

In total, in UK were registered last year 2.26 million new cars, an increase of 11% compared to the previous year, the highest volume in the last five years.
At European level, the UK  market went straight on the 5th place among the largest markets for Dacia, being at a similar volume to the Romanian market.
Of the four Dacia models sold in the UK, only the Duster is imported from India, while the Logan, the Logan MCV and the Sandero models are produced in Romania, with a right-hand drive.

After only 10 months of presence in the UK market, Dacia has succeeded to deliver the car with the number 10,000. Orders placed by the British  customers have exceeded 11,500 units, more than the Romanian car manufacturer officials expected.

At exactly 10 months after its debut in the UK market, Dacia registered a notable performance. The Pitesti manufacturer delivered the car with the number 10,000 in the United Kingdom, a Duster painted in Granite Grey, with Ambiance equipment level and four-wheel drive. The 10,000 owner of a Dacia model is Elma Marshall, who works in a hospital in Motherwell, Scotland.

“Before I went to the local dealer, I read more about Dacia on the internet. That fact that the Duster has been declared Car of the Year in Scotland had some influence. As soon as I sat in it I felt comfortable and I felt that I will be useful in the long winter days. I knew also that if I would choose the top version it will be a good deal compared to other cars on the market. I have already received some positive feedback from colleagues at the hospital and I even pulled a few exclamations in parking lots, "said Elma Marshall.

Dacia enjoys this success only selling two models on the UK market: Duster and Sandero alongside its derivative Sandero Stepway. The third model, the new Logan MCV will be launched in the UK this autumn.
So far, from 1 January to 1 October, Dacia recorded 11,500 orders. Of these, 5600 were for the Duster and 5400 for Sandero, a quarter of which are Sandero Stepway. The rest orders up to 11,500 were for the new Logan MCV, whose orders have already been opened.

Arnaud Deboeuf, the Head of the Entry Program in the Renault Group, said that the Dacia brand is no longer seen by the customers as a low cost brand but more as a smart choice.

At a time of deep economic instability in Europe, Renault has received a breath of fresh air from Dacia, whose sales have steadily increase in the recent years. From a low-cost brand, as it was presented in 2004 at the launch of the first Logan, Dacia has come to be seen as a smart choice by the European customers.

Arnaud Deboeuf says that the European customers are not looking for models that show their status. This trend has decreased in intensity and the customers are now looking for a vehicle with a decent level of safety, reliable and comfortable, preferring to spend their money on other things.
This year, Renault expects to sell a million cars built on the M0 platform, used on all Dacia models. Of these, 68% will have the Renault logo and the remaining 32% will be Dacia models.

In an interview for the Automotive News, Deboeuf claims that Dacia will not produce an electric model because the innovative trend is not a part of the Romanian brand DNA. Dacia offers only technology for which there is a extremely high demand like the new navigation system and the reversing camera that are now offered on Dacia models sold in the Western Europe because there is a high demand.

The things go according to plan for Dacia if we look at the sales trends from the beginning of the year until now. The Romanian car manufacturer has managed to obtain an increase of 18% while the European market has depreciated by 7%. Moreover, the Dacia market share in Europe increased from 1.7% to 2.2%.

Dacia new car registrations in the European Union (EU) rose by 28.2% in April and by 18.3% in the first four months of the year on a European car market that has seen the first positive development in the last 19 months, mainly due to increases registered in Germany and the UK.

In the top car manufacturers, Dacia registered the strongest growth, with an increase of 28% of new cars registered in the EU in April, to nearly 25,000 units. In the first four months of the year, the Romanian brand registered an advance of 18.3% in the EU, to almost 88 250 new cars sold.
The Renault Group, the third car manufacturer in Europe after sales recorded in April an increase of 5.3% to 92,600 new registrations in the EU, generated exclusively by Dacia – Renault recorded a decrease of 1.1%. In the first four months in the EU were registered approximately 346,000 cars produced by the Renault Group companies, down by 4.9% compared to 2012.

The CNN reporters visited the Dacia factory and the Constanta port, where they followed the manufacturing and the export of the Dacia cars, emphasizing that Dacia is the biggest Romanian exporter.

In the first visit of a CNN crew at the Dacia factory, where they shoot a video report about the good things happening in Romania, Dacia being the most successful exporter and one of the most profitable employers. Every day, three trains leave the Dacia plant in Pitesti with more than 300 vehicles, all for export by sea via the Constanta port.

The Dacia success story began drawing more interest from abroad. The Renault subsidiary is admired by the automotive rivals, not only because it managed to launch a low-cost range at the beginning of the financial crisis but also because Dacia provided competitive models from several points of view, not only the price, as seen in recent years.

Here is the CNN Dacia video:

The 0.9-liter TCe engines produced by Dacia-Renault will power the future Smart Fortwo, according to Dacia representatives. The engine that will be manufactured in the Pitesti factory, will be delivered to Daimler, after a partnership signed by the Renault-Nissan concern with the Germans from Daimler.

The 0.9 TCe is a engine that complies with the Euro 5 standards, develops 90 HP and powers the Dacia Logan, Sandero, Sandero Stepway and Renault Clio models. With the onset of the new Smart ForTwo, the 0.9 TCe engine will be integrated on the new generation of Renault Twingo.

“Renault Technologie Roumanie has a partnership with Daimler based on which we export the H4 engine produced in Pitesti to Daimler for the Smart Fortwo and to Renault for the Twingo models, "said Sorin Buse, the General Manager of Renault Technologie Roumanie. The Renault Technical Centre was established in 2006, has over 2,000 employees, and operates in three centers: Bucharest – design, Pitesti – tests and Titu – test center.

The production of the H4 engine has started in Pitesti in 2012, and the 0.9-liter unit has debuted almost simultaneously in the Renault and Dacia ranges, marking an important step in the downsizing intentions of the French car manufacturer. In 2013, Dacia estimates that will produce 150,000 H4 engines.