Dacia presented the new Lodgy, which will be assembled in Morocco using parts exported from Romania, while Ford officially introduced the B-Max multi-purpose vehicle in Geneva, which made several part manufacturers start investments near the plant.
As for car sales, the local market slid by another 10% this year.
1. Dacia presents Lodgy Glace
Renault will begin production of the new Dacia Lodgy model in the first half of next year. This is the first Dacia MPV and will be assembled at the plant in Tangiers, Morocco, in which the French carmaker invested over EUR1 billion. Considering that only one in ten cars made by Dacia at its Mioveni plant (southern Romania) is sold on its home market, Renault chose Morocco to build the third plant of the Romanian brand, as labor and transportation costs are lower in the North-African country.
The seventh model in the Dacia range will be exclusively made in another country but will use parts manufactured in Romania.
2. Ford does not observe the terms of the contract signed for the plant in Craiova
Ford undertook to make 250,000 cars in Craiova this year in the privatization contract signed in September 2007, a target that is impossible to meet considering the mere 2,547 cars assembled in the first ten months of this year.
Besides having its state aid frozen, Ford risks a EUR14 million fine from the Romanian government as stipulated in the contract, in case it does not make 250,000 cars in 2011. Ford Romania halted production of Transit Connect utility vehicle in November to install the assembly lines for B-Max, which will be launched next year.
3. Manager of Michelin’s plant in Floresti goes to India
Carmen Petcu, 47, the first employee Michelin hired in Romania in 2001 and manager of the tire plant in Floresti, southern Romania, goes to Chennai, India, where she will be part of a team that will supervise an over $1 billion project. Carmen Petcu’s term at the plant making industrial tires (for trucks and buses) in Chennai includes supervision of the construction work and of the operations thereafter.
4. AutoItalia taken over by Israel’s MCA
Eighteen years after the establishment of the AutoItalia business in Romania, which is currently one of the importers with the highest number of brands in its portfolio such as Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Abarth, Lancia and Jeep, its founder, Herbert Stein, sold it to Israel-based Mediterranean Car Agency (MCA) this March.
The first significant change in the business of AutoItalia was made this year, when the company started importing Jeep and will relaunch the Lancia brand, which will also include rebranded Chrysler models. AutoItalia stopped import of SsangYong cars, which New Kopel picked up.
5. Tiriac Auto starts biggest rebranding campaign
The automotive dealers part of the Tiriac Auto group started the most extensive rebranding campaign this year and had their names replaced by Tiriac Auto. Moreover, the campaign also entailed the creation of a coat of arms for Tiriac Holdings.
After the rebranding campaign a reorganization of the automotive retail division with almost EUR165 million sales last year followed. It entailed merging the 11 dealers that own over 60 centers into a single company by the name of Tiriac Auto.
6. Winter tires mandatory
Government Ordinance 5/2011 came into force on November 1, 2011 rendering mandatory the use of winter tires, snow chains or any other non-skid equipment certified as suitable for use on roads covered in snow, ice or black ice.
The new law is aimed at boosting safety on public roads during winter and reducing the number of human casualties caused by the improperly equipped vehicles traveling on roads covered in snow, ice or black ice.
7. Romania becomes luxury market again
The market of super luxury cars witnessed a regular “boom” in the last quarter of this year when three cars worth over EUR1.2 million together were delivered. The most expensive of them was a EUR500,000 Maybach 575 sold by Mercedes-Benz Romania, followed by an over EUR400,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom and an about EUR300,000 Rolls-Royce Ghost.
8. Market continues decline
Vehicle registrations slid by a further 10% this year. Therefore the total volume of cars is put at about 82,000-84,000 for this year, compared with almost 95,000 in 2010. The only segments that did grow were utility vehicles and premium cars, both of them driven by corporate purchases.
9. Ford starts attracting investments for Craiova
Ford Romania attracted an almost EUR60 million greenfield investment of IAC Group in Bals, the only such investment that has to do with the plant in Craiova. Yazaki Romania invested EUR2 million in a new plant to work with Ford in Romania, using some space of the Romanita textile mill in Caracal, while other component makers such as Johnson Controls, Cooper Standard and Kirchhoff went directly to Ford’s site in Craiova. (Caracal and Bals are located east of Craiova, in the south of the country).
10. New chairman at Dacia
On November 1, Christophe Kugler, 50, became senior vice-president, chairman of the Euromed region, which includes Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, and therefore became Automobile Dacia’s chairman of the board. Kugler replaced Jacques Chauvet, 63, who will leave the French group by the end of 2011.