While over 180,000 local auto industry employees had returned to work by the end of June, production volumes are still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.
“Around 75-80% of local auto industry employees have returned to work but there are manufacturers working four-day weeks depending on demand,” said Adrian Sandu, secretary general of the association of automotive manufacturers in Romania (ACAROM) .
Production was resumed gradually in late April-early May as Dacia and Ford Romania reopened their local factories.
“Our forecasts are moderately optimistic and we will not return too soon to the volumes before the crisis. We forecast 75% to 85% recovery rate, as consumers are still reticent in buying vehicles. We cannot keep all our 2,300 employees on the payroll. We now have 1,700 employees and we’ve reduced the work week to four days, hoping for an increase in volumes as of September,” said Silviu Badea, general manager of Subansamble Auto Pitesti.
Dacia currently makes 1,250 cars a day in three shifts from 1,400 cars a day before the pandemic. Dacia CEO Christophe Dridi said last week the factory expects to reach 1,313 units per day in July and 1,400 units per day in September.
Romania has around 240,000 employees in the auto industry.