Romania, among the top 8 car manufacturers in Europe, across Hungary and close to Poland

By Edwig Ban
The Romanian Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACAROM) announced on Monday that the Dacia-Renault plant in Mioveni registered a production of 335,262 vehicles.
Compared to the previous year, the increase is 6.8%, one of the highest in recent years and one of the strongest increases among major automakers in Europe.
In 2018, the most important model was Duster, with 237,000 units. The SUV was followed by Sandero (42,146 units), Logan (33,841 units) and Logan MCV (22,354 units).
In addition, the plant has produced 33,656 dyed bodies, which were sent to Algeria.
And the second car manufacturer in Romania, Ford Craiova had a production boom in 2018. According to estimates, 140,000 cars were manufactured in Craiova.
In total, in Romania in 2018 there are almost 500,000 vehicles. In this way, the statistics show that Romania will be among the top 8 car manufacturers in Europe. If the 2017 and 2018 trend continues, with a production of nearly 500,000 vehi- cles, Romania is overtaking Hungary and is approaching Poland.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), in 2017, Hungary had a production of 472,107 cars (-19% over the previous year), Poland produced 514,700 (-7.2%), and Romania had a increase of 1.6%. In 2018, with an increase of almost 8%, Romania has all the chances to overtake Hungary and be close to Poland. Romania will have its 8th place among European car manufacturers.
In 2019, trends indicate a new production record as both Ford and Dacia announced both new models such as the second SUV in Craiova and new engines for the range produced in Mioveni. Ten years after being in Romania, the Ford company started at the end of 2018 the recruitment program for the Craiova plant, which they plan to recruit 1,700 new employees.
At Mioveni, Dacia started production of the first new engine in the last seven years. The Renault Group is building the 1.0 IG-T100 propeller in Romania. It’s the turbo version of the new 1.0-liter aspirated engine that made its debut under the hood of Nissan Micra and Dacia Sandero and Logan.
Dacia received state aid to increase production. In this way, the Mioveni plant will be able to produce 406,000 cars per year. At present, the Dacia plant in Mioveni has a production capacity of about 350,000 units per year.