Dacia owns the largest CKD (completely knocked down) collection centre of the entire Renault group, said Louis Schweitzer, chairman of the French group. CKDs are complete sets of parts from which cars can be assembled.
Dacia has invested over 18 million euros in a CKD export centre of 35,000 square metres, which can subsequently be expanded to 60,000 square metres.
“In the end this centre will have a three times larger capacity than our main centre in France,” Schweitzer added.
So while in terms of production and sales Dacia is still far from its majority shareholder, the Romanian brand has nonetheless succeeded in outrunning that of its French counterpart, at least in terms of the size of the export centre for sets of car parts.
As a comparison, in its more than 35 years of existence Dacia has produced some 2.5 million cars, something the Renault group manages in a single year.
Things are set to change in the near future, however, with sales of Logan cars set to reach about one million units by 2010, says Schweitzer.
“The new export centre will be the place for bringing together all the car parts manufactured in Pitesti or delivered by other Romanian suppliers or suppliers from other countries, and it will source the factories in Moscow, Russia, Morocco, India, Iran and Brazil, where the Logan model will be produced,” explained Schweitzer.
The export centre represents a good deal for the domestic producer, Dacia representatives say, given that prices on the ring road around Bucharest can reach 40 euros per square metre, while acquisition of the 22 hectares close to the factory in Pitesti was made at 4 euros per square metre. Acquisition of the land alone cost 880,000 euros.
Higher export-based production and rising sales on the Romanian market will allow Dacia to go beyond the 1 billion euro threshold this year in terms of turnover, officials explained.
This means the company will turn a profit for the first time since Renault became a shareholder in September 1999.
The better than expected results for the Logan model will take Renault’s investments in Dacia beyond the one billion euro mark. Investment so far by the French group has reached almost 850 million dollars (more than 700 million euros), with investment plans for the next two years expected to be in region of 300 million euros.
Schweitzer believes the Dacia project still has some extra potential remaining. ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro