The latest project they contributed to is Renault Arkana. Arkana is the first coupe SUV of the carmaker and its first foray into the territory normally occupied by BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The model was unveiled at the Moscow International Auto Show last week, as Russia is the first market where it is sold.
“There are modules designed in Romania for Renault cars.
Romanian engineers are increasingly advanced and have developed their skills, we have a full testing center here and can develop more cars,” said Antoine Doucerain, managing director of Automobile Dacia and of Groupe Renault Romania. He replaced Yves Caracatzanis who took the reins of Renault-Nissan Alliance-owned Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVaz, this spring.
Fifty years from the start of production of the Dacia 1100 model, a rebranded Renault 10 in Mioveni in 1968, Romanian engineers are designing entry-level models and also working on some of the most advanced Renault models. Renault Technologie Roumanie is also the biggest engineering center of the French group outside France and employs almost 3,000 engineers.
Dacia’s production is due to increase this year especially because of the Duster SUV, whose sales in Europe reached almost 20,000 units in July.
Dacia will increase daily Duster production from 1,000 to 1,100 units this month. Overall daily production will remain at about 1,400 cars per day, but a better organization will allow it to make more Duster vehicles. The capacity of the plant will remain at about 350,000 units year. The company will not say how high this year’s production will be, but it will be higher than last year, Automobile Dacia’s managing director said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)