Dacia finally in the black

Romanian carmaker Automobile Dacia has managed to post profit in October, for the first time since French Renault Group bought it in the fall of 1999.

“This is the first time in three and a half years that we are not posting losses,” Constantin Stroe, Automobile Dacia VP said.

Stroe added the Romanian carmaker would exceed the sales target announced early in the year. “The initial plan was to sell 67,000 cars this year, but our results so far point to 70,000 units.  At the same time, exports have redoubled from 2002. We have already shipped more than 10,000 cars abroad compared to last year’s 5,000,” Stroe specified.

The news about Dacia’s profit does come as a surprise, because company officials were not expecting the first profits any sooner than the second half of next year, matching the launch of the 5,000 euro Dacia model, codenamed X90.

Renault became Dacia’s majority shareholder in 1999, when it paid $50 million for 51% in the company.

The Pitesti-based producer was in a much worse shape than the French had anticipated. Under the circumstances, Renault worked on improving the Nova model released in late 1995 before the launch of the 5,000 euro model, Renault’s stated purpose when taking over Dacia.

Late 2000 saw the release of the Supernova model, an upgrade of the Nova, only to be discontinued this spring, when it was replaced by Solenza.

Solenza was a hit on the Romanian market and Dacia officials announced only the productive capacity was the limit.

ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro