If the decline continues in the second half, the total production will drop to 386,000 cars from almost 411,000 in 2013.
Dacia’s record high output of more than 342,000 cars, the highest ever for the plant in Mioveni and Ford’s first year with more than 68,000 cars assembled put Romania on the 9th place in Europe in 2013, leaving Italy behind in terms of car production.
Dacia accounted for 85% of the first half production, with more than 179,100 cars assembled, down 1% on the year-ago period. It accounted for 83% of last year’s production after Ford picked up the pace.
The US automaker assembled almost 31,400 B-Max cars in Craiova in January-June, 27% fewer than in the same time in 2013, due to production halts caused by the decline in demand in Europe.
Most of the cars Dacia assembled in the first half were Duster, over 82,700 units, 30% more than in the year-ago period, followed by Logan, 48,600 units, 10% fewer.
Sandero witnessed the highest decline from almost 63,000 units in the first half of 2013 to less than 25,500 in the first half of 2014. The almost 60% decline is due to Renault moving half of the production of the model to the plant in Tangiers, Morocco, from which it ships its cars to Western Europe.
Despite the production decline, exports increased to more than 193,500 cars in the first half, 2.5% above the corresponding period of 2013. Duster was the most exported model, 78,477 units, up almost 30%, followed by Logan, 40,800 units, while Craiova shipped 31,300 B-Max-es abroad.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)