Mioveni Dacia factory, at half a century since making its first automobile

The Mioveni Dacia factory turns 50 on Monday, half a century since making its first Dacia brand automobile, all the while the production of Romanian Dacia automobiles passed 6 million units.

According to a press release sent by the company to AGERPRES, on August 20, 1968, the Pitesti Automobile Plant (UAP) was inaugurated. The first automobile that went out of the gates wore the name of Dacia 1100 and it was a vehicle made under the license of the Renault R8 model. One year later Dacia 1300 went into making, which was the brand's base model for nearly three decades.

Made in various types (hatchback, pick-up, sedan and two-door sports edition), the Dacia model remains in the collective memory as the "car that put Romania on wheels".

According to the company's data, Dacia was founded upon a collaboration agreement between the Romanian state and the Renault company. "Dacia came back to its roots in 1999, once the brand and the Mioveni factory were taken over by the French group. Dacia is today Romania's biggest company, with a significant contribution to the GDP and the country's exports, and with a structural role in the economy through the means of a vast network of suppliers. Along the five decades, inside Mioveni there were over 6 million automobiles made," the quoted source notes.

During its first year of activity, 2,030 vehicles were assembled at Mioveni.

Currently, over 90 percent of the cars manufactured at Mioveni are exported, with models such as Sandero or Duster being in the top sales on the most demanding European markets.

Part of Groupe Renault, Dacia is, in 2018, a dynamic brand, leader on the Romanian market and in full expansion on an international level. The industrial platform of Mioveni currently has 14,000 employees, who benefit from modern working conditions, at a European level.

Dacia produces in Romania nearly 350,000 automobiles per year, to which 500,000 car engines and more than 500,000 gear boxes add, an important part of which is exported. The engineering activity is carried out at the highest international standards, within the engineering center, Renault Technologie Roumanie, including the Titu Technical Centre, inaugurated in 2009.

The Dacia range, composed in 1968, from a single model, currently contains seven models, of which (Lodgy, Dokker and Dokker Van) are produced, starting with 2012, in the Tangier Renault Groupe plant, in Morocco.

Currently, Dacia is Romania's biggest company, with a turnover of over 5 billion Euro, in 2017. The market quota of the car maker is roughly 30 percent of new vehicle sales.

Dacia models are sold in 44 countries, on four continents, the main three export markets being, in the first half of 2018, France, Germany and Italy.AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniel Badea, editor: Mariana Nica; EN - author: Catalin Cristian Trandafir, editor: Maria Voican)