Automobile Dacia is faring well these days: sales surged to almost 390 million euros last year, up 31% in euros and 60% in ROL. The Pitesti-based company is thus becoming a big player in the Romanian industry, closing in on the small club of Romanian companies (less than ten) that post annual turnover in excess of 500 million euros.
Last year's surge in sales did not enable Romanian carmaker Automobile Dacia to cut losses, but, at least, their growth pace has frozen. Thus, losses climbed almost 21% in ROL, but only a mere 0.1% if calculated in euros In other words, for the first time since Renault bought the main stake in Dacia, the carmaker stopped making increasingly higher losses.
"There are three factors that fuelled the impressive turnover growth," the Romanian carmaker's officials feel.
First of all, the number of sold cars has definitely seen an increase. According to statistics, Dacia sold almost 70,000 cars last year, which accounts for a 20% growth as compared to the previous year.
"The change of our range of products and, implicitly, the changing structure of sales and, last but not least, the inflationist effect have certainly impacted upon the results," Dacia representatives add.
The Solenza model - the new and improved, but also more expensive variant of the SupeRNova, was launched last year and did not take long before securing the top position on the Romanian automotive market in terms of sales. Moreover, Dacia officials last fall said that high demand for Solenza had allowed the Romanian producer to post the first monthly profit (in October) since Renault's arrival.
Consequently, the company's turnover went up to 14,636 billion ROL (389.7 million euros) last year, whereas losses were worth 3,635 billion ROL (96.7 million euros). In 2002, Dacia had logged turnover worth 9,263 billion ROL (296.3 million euros) and losses amounting to 3,003 billion ROL (96 million euros).
According to Dacia officials, things will change this year, once the X90 (the 5,000-euro car) is launched and allows the company to break even. Even if it will not be an annual profit, since the car will be launched in the second half of the year, the Pitesti-based carmaker will be able to show off its first quarterly profit in the past few years.
Dacia aims to sell 90,000 units this year, with 11,000 of them being 5,000-euro cars. In fact, X90 was the main project announced by Renault after buying the Romanian company, in September 1999, when it paid 50 million dollars for a 51% stake. Subsequently, following successive capital increases, Renault came to own 99% in the Pitesti-based plant, which was delisted from the Bucharest Stock Exchange and turned into a closed-end company.
The 5,000-euro Dacia will be mainly destined to the emerging markets in Eastern Europe, South America and Africa and is set to turn Dacia into an international brand. ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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