Raţiu considering revival of Aro brand
The Aro brand could return in the next six to twelve months, say
officials of Landmark Management, a company controlled by
businessman Nicolae Raţiu, son of late politician Ion Raţiu, who
took over the manufacturing licenses and the Aro Câmpulung
industrial site in 2007.
"We own the licenses for the previously manufactured Aro models. We
are currently considering manufacturing components for the models
already on the streets. At the same time, there are carmakers
interested to manufacture off-road vehicles similar to ARO's,"
Nicolae Raţiu said.
The businessman added that talks and negotiations were being
conducted but no contract had been signed yet.
Along with Dacia, Arctic, Dero and Gerovital, Aro is one of the
most powerful Romanian brands to have remained on the market after
1989; demand was constant for the off-road vehicles assembled in
Câmpulung until manufactured stopped. Whereas one would wait a few
weeks to get a Dacia vehicle in the nineties, one would have to
wait months for an Aro and some customers were willing to pay extra
to make sure they would get a Romanian SUV.