The rise in sales was because of the plant in Tangiers, Morocco, again.
Out of the 600,000 Dacia cars sold, more than 400,000 went to its ten biggest markets. Four of the five Dacia models sold in Europe are among the top ten by sales and two are among the top five in Europe.
Romania and Morocco are Dacia’s most important markets by market share, almost 30%, while France is most important market by volume with almost 100,000 units sold in 2015.
Spain vied with Germany over the second place among the carmaker’s top ten markets, eventually falling behind it with more than 45,200 units, after 24% growth. Sales of Dacia in Germany stood at 45,700 units, 6.4% fewer than the year before.
Four of Dacia’s top ten markets ended 2015 with double-digit growth and only three went down, but the decline happened in Western Europe, in France, Germany and Belgium, where people chose to buy more expensive cars, safer and with more options than Dacia’s models.
Meanwhile, Automobile Dacia, which owns a car plant in Mioveni, consolidated its position as Romania’s largest company by revenue, posting growth of 2.2% in revenue to 10.02 billion lei (EUR2.25 billion) in the first half of last year, compared with the same time in 2014.
If the growth pace continued in the second half when production was stable and the company started making new components, the revenue should go up to RON19.4 billion or RON19.5 billion, according to ZF estimates.
Production in Mioveni was flat at more than 314,000 cars in January-November 2015, according to the Romanian Automotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA) data. It should reach about 340,000 units by yearend, very close to its peak capacity of 350,000.
The plant in Tangiers, Morocco, however, increased production to almost 250,000 units, so it is now fewer than 100,000 units behind Mioveni.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)