Dacia will make more than 1.1 billion euros in turnover this year, almost five times more than at the time Renault became a shareholder in 1999. The domestic manufacturer will also break even this year. "This has been the best year for Dacia until now. We have achieved record sales on both the domestic market and in terms of exports. Under the circumstances, we will achieve an over 1.1 billion-euro turnover this year," stated Francois Fourmont, the general manager of Automobile Dacia.
This is an approximately 85% growth on the same time last year and higher than initially anticipated by the carmaker, which set out to attain one billion euros.
"The better than expected sales of Logan will bring the first year of profits in Pitesti," says Francois Fourmont.
He would not disclose the estimated profit level, explaining the financial results of the group would be made public early next year. The French group''s president Carlos Ghosn had previously said that the operating income margin in Logan''s case was somewhere close to the industry average, 5%.
Dacia sold more than 95,049 vehicles on the domestic market in the first ten months, almost half of which were Logans.
Exports of this model exceeded 43,000 units at the end of October. The full-year plans targeted an output of 175,000 vehicles.
The volume will increase next year, with the manufacturer already announcing substantial investments in the expansion of the production capacity. Next year will also see the station wagon Logan launched, to add up to the already existing range.
Furthermore, the Dacia officials announced a pick-up truck version based on the Logan model would follow a year later.
Information on the market this autumn hinted at the launch of a multi-purpose vehicle or an all-wheel drive car based on the Logan model.
"There will be other launches," Fourmont added, declining to make further comments. Encouraged by the better than expected results of the Logan model, the carmaker has recently started an extensive personnel recruitment drive, which will end with an increase in the number of employees from the current 11,500 to 13,000 over the next two or three years.
According to the data provided by the company, Romania is the third leading employer of the Renault group after France and Spain.
The company had made approximately 650 million-euro investments by the end of 2004, with a further 150 million euros scheduled for next year. Then there are also the 215 million euros earmarked for a gearbox factory in Pitesti, which will generate 600 new jobs.
The French at Renault are also interested in the second local car manufacturer, Daewoo Craiova. They submitted a letter of intent for the acquisition of this factory together with Nissan.
The stake of this acquisition, according to the information on the automotive market, is the manufacturing of Nissan automobiles in Craiova. This is because the Asian company does not have any production facilities in Eastern Europe.
ioana.david@zf.ro
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
