Tiriac wants to sell Dacia in Germany after bringing Mercedes and Metro to Romania

Ion Tiriac, the first entrepreneur to have bet on Romania's economic growth in the '90s, by bringing brands such as Mercedes, Ford, and Metro Cash&Carry onto the Romanian market, is now considering opening Dacia auto showrooms in Western Europe, in France or Germany, thus promoting a Romanian brand abroad.

"We have also considered becoming a Dacia dealer abroad, not only in Romania. Dacia is a car that to me has seen a surprising evolution. The product is good, and sells extremely well abroad," Ion Alexandru Tiriac, son of former Romanian tennis player and representative of the shareholder in the executive boards and in the boards of directors of Tiriac Holdings, a group that posted 1.3-1.4 billion euros in turnover last year, told Ziarul Financiar in an interview.

Having his office on the ground floor of the Tiriac Holdings' headquarters, Ion Alexandru Tiriac now needs to prove he deserves to take over at the helm of an empire with operations in the auto, real estate, banking, insurance, and air travel sectors. And this in the context where the Tiriac business was a player in the markets worst hit by the economic crisis in 2009, and fell by 30 to 40% on markets that went down by up to 60%.