The original name was given to it in September 1966, before the ancient name of Romania, the Dacia i.e. Dacia, was U.A.P. (Uzina de Autoturisme Pitesti). It was founded in Colibasi (today's Mioveni) a small town 12 km away from Pitesti, known for its university. The name U.A.P. remained only for two and a half years, as it was renamed SC Automobile Dacia.
The history of the factory
But the history of the factory began much earlier, in 1942, with the first buildings being used to manufacture engines and equipment for the warplanes produced at the IAR factory in Brasov during World War II. The rate of production of aircraft engines reached 600 units per month, with construction work on the plant finishing in 1945. After the war, the facility was used by the state-owned Romanian Railways (CFR), which abandoned it with the announcement of the creation of the national automotive industry. On the current perimeter of the factory there are still some brick structures with a specific industrial architectural profile from the first half of the last century that testify to the purpose of their existence.
The vision
The construction and operation of a car production plant was part of the country's effort to industrialise. An effort that had already been underway since the early 1960s. The new car would have to be big enough for a family, but simply built and cheap to produce, buy and operate. The initiators of the project thought and decided not to develop and build their own model from scratch but to ask for a production license from a factory of one of the then known European cars with a 1,100 to 1,300 cc engine. This was a time-consuming and insurmountably expensive project for Romania's capabilities at the time, but it proved to be a clever one. Several companies expressed interest in this proposal, including Peugeot for the 204, FIAT for the 1100D, Alfa Romeo for its models that also had a 1300cc engine, Austin for the legendary Mini and Renault for the 10. The final choice of the model that would start production on Romanian soil was not at all accidental, as the visit of the then President of the French Republic, Charles de Gaulle, to Bucharest in 1966 and his meeting with the then leader of Romania Nicolae Ceausescu played a catalytic role, with Renault as the final "winner". In September of the same year, the cooperation contract was signed, and about a year and a half later, the premises were ready (a record time for the time). In August 1968, the first trial operations began, with a staff of 217 employees. The Romanians' first objective was to produce the Renault 12. However, the model was already delayed in going into production even in France, as it was still in the testing phase. After initially flirting with the 16, they ended up with the Renault 8 as a transitional solution. The model had already been upgraded by "mum" Renault with a 1,100 cc engine, from the original production models of 956 cc and 44 hp. Production of the "8" started on 3 August 1968 in the now ambitious Balkan country, with the first Dacia 1100 crossing the production line on 20 August 1968, and being driven first by the General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and then leader of the country, Nicolae Ceausescu (Nicolae Ceausescu), with Dacia giving it to him as a gift. After many years it was revealed that the car given to Ceausescu was not exactly the first, but one of the first models built, and had undergone some improvements and had been in production since 3 August 1968.
The Dacia 1100, as the Renault 8 became known in Romania, had very few differences from its French "brother". Only the logo and some minor differences in the grille, gave away its origin. It was released in only 5 colours (red, white, black, grey and green) and remained in production until 1971, when it was time for the Dacia 1300, call me Renault 12. By then 37,546 units had been produced, of which about 100, in the 1100 S version, were distinguished at the front by the four headlights being given to the Romanian police and Ministry of Interior.
The truth is that the Renault 12 was a landmark model for Dacia. With production starting on 23 August 1969 and ending after about 2 million units in 2004 !!! It was a, small for our time, normal for the competition at the time, family car that with its clever design provided sufficient space for four adults with their luggage and had reliable and economical engines, achieving great commercial success. Total production reached 2,500,000 units and was built under licence in both Latin America and Turkey, where it enjoyed a long career in the neighbouring country from 1971 to 2000. It was also produced in Brazil, Argentina as well as in Colombia, where it completed the manufacture of unfinished import bodies, which came from Argentina and France as well. The most successful attempt, however, was that of the Romanian factory, almost on a par with the parent French factory.
The first Renault 12 to come off the production line at the Romanian plant was called the Dacia 1210. With a 1,185 cc 4-cylinder 8-valve engine of 48 hp, a weight of less than 900 kg and a front-wheel drive transmission, it was the most modern for its time, compared to the Eastern sector competitors that were in circulation at the time (Trabant, Skoda, Moskwich, Lada and Wartburg). It later appeared upgraded as the 1300/1310 with a 1,289 cc, 54 hp engine. By the end of its career it received 1.4 and 1.6 litre engines, with 62 and 72 hp respectively and, for the record, several sales were made in Greece in the 1970s. In 1973 the station wagon version of the 1300, the Break, was introduced, while in 1975 the pick-up version was introduced under the name 1302. Armed with a low purchase price and cheap maintenance, it managed to last for almost 35 years with production ceasing on 21/07/2004(!) handing over to the more modern Dacia Logan. The biggest constructional disadvantage of the Dacia 1210/1300 was corrosion. On the flip side, however, the good performance for the class, fuel economy and cheap servicing were considered an advantage over the lack of air conditioning, airbags and ABS offered by the competition (especially towards the end of its career). Total production of the Dacia 1300 in 2-door, 4-door sedan and station wagon versions reached 1,959,730 units, to which should be added the 318,969 units of the pick-up version (1975-2006). During its "lifetime" it was upgraded 6 times, and the help of the parent factory was important, which supplied the Mioveni with French-made mechanical parts and components, which proved to be of superior quality compared to those produced later in the Romanian factory.
Dacia's first entirely designed and built car was the Nova. A five-door liftback, also based on the Renault 12, with a better use and layout of the chassis but creating space for 5 passengers, it was launched in 1995. It was initially equipped with carburettor engines at 1,400 cc (62 hp) and 1,600 cc (with 72), with the 2000 model refresh being replaced by a new 1,600 cc single-point Bosch fuel injection engine to comply with Euro2 emission standards, producing 75 hp, which also powered the more richly equipped GT (or SuperNova for the local market) version. Its career was short, and the fact that it was not particularly successful was not because it was a "bad" model, but because "something was going to change" in the very near future .....
Its full integration
After 33 years of full state operation, the Romanian government, after much discussion, sells 100% of its shares to Groupe Renault in 1999. Renault's plans were many and the first actions taken were to increase the initial facilities... a lot. The factory was beginning to make its first expansions as, in addition to the increased and new model production, new premises had to be built to house the engine, gearbox and body parts production units. Along with the expansions, however, new and many more workers had to be brought in to enable the target to be achieved. Gradually the workforce then reached 10 thousand.
All of the above contributed to the launch in 2004 of a modern, reliable and affordable car designed specifically for emerging markets. Its name? Logan, and it was a huge success in Western European markets, with an unbeatable price of around €5,000, the same as other European used models of the time were selling for, breaking Dacia's coffers. Another model was destined to become the biggest commercial success in 2008, continuing to this day, with the Sandero breaking one class sales record after another in Europe every year. Its visible advantages over the competition, together with its unbeatable price, made it stand out in the European and non-European market.
The Duster of the 80s.
Dacia wanted to have vehicles for all terrains in its range, and to cover a larger customer base. So, in the 1980s, DACIA agreed with ARO (Automobil Romanesc), another Romanian state-owned, but much smaller, car manufacturer founded in 1957, to produce the ARO 10 model, but under Dacia's brand name. Until then, ARO's main customer was the then SSR and the vehicles it produced were passenger and commercial vehicles, mainly four-wheel drive. Its main production was the ARO 24, a D-SUV by today's standards, which had few sales outside S.S.D. With the gradual loosening of Soviet influence in 1972, ARO's plan was to build a smaller and affordable off-road vehicle (today's B-SUV as a benchmark), the ARO 10, with development lasting a full 6 years!
Apart from the production in Romania, ARO had also licensed the production of its models to the Portuguese Portaro for the markets of Spain, Portugal and the UK, in order to become known and fast in the delivery of orders. Again, however, sales were minimal. In 1984, an ambitious ARO (and later DACIA) importer in the UK who had great faith in the ARO 10 model and its capabilities placed a large order with the Portuguese factory, a move that proved to be a mistake. With the large number of ARO 10's left unsold and as the Dacia name was becoming increasingly well known in the UK, he came up with a solution to "unstick" by putting on stickers and renaming the ARO 10's to Dacia Duster. It was fitted with mechanical parts from the Renault 12 (also) with a 1.4 litre engine producing 65bhp, with a mix of a passenger chassis with a very simple "ladder-type" version as we know it today. Four-wheel drive versions were added to the update, and there were various bodywork variants such as pick-up, hardtop-utility and a much cheaper and smaller Land Rover 90 "Roadster" type, with a removable tailgate and front windscreen. Unfortunately, competition from the Suzuki Samurai, Daihatsu Taft (Feroza in Greece), Mitsubishi Shogun (Pajero in the rest of Europe) and Land Rover 90, made sales of the Dacia Duster weak, as they were equipped with much better mechanical parts for both on- and off-road driving. To illustrate, the small and thin 14 inch wheels picked up a lot of grit and mud so that it could not get out of them without being towed and when on the road, apart from the fuzzy and very heavy steering wheel, the 0-100 process took 22 seconds with a top speed of only 115km/h! In Britain it was sold until 1993 and from 1999 and the complete takeover of Dacia by Renault, the ARO 10 was immediately discontinued (including the five-door and station wagon which were added later) but kept the copyright of the name, introducing it in 2010 in the form we know it as today.
For the record, the ARO 10, which was also assembled in Italy, with improved quality and assembly, was equipped with a 1.6 litre Volkswagen diesel engine, and in the markets outside Europe where it was sold by the Italian factory, sales were very good.
What the people wanted (and want)
The year that Dacia really made all European manufacturers and citizens alike "talk" and the factory was "running" to catch up with the thousands of orders it received every day, was 2010, when it presented the Duster. An SUV with space for 5 passengers and luggage, with petrol engines (initially atmospheric and then turbocharged) and very economical diesel engines, all tested in many Renault and Nissan models. Apart from its very low acquisition price compared to the competition, what placed it right in the middle of the competition, if not at the top, was its all-wheel drive, which made many of the competition's models (and some much more expensive ones) "cry" from its very good off-road capabilities. Over the course of its career to date, in addition to being a passenger SUV, it has been marketed as a business car without the rear seats, creating a large single cargo area with access through the rear side doors as well, but also as a "pickup" and of course in many variations for various government agencies, the military, police and fire departments.
Following the "current" of the time, DACIA dared to introduce the "Spring" of electrification in 2021 when it presented the Spring, which is still the cheapest electric vehicle in the continent with its urban crossover character, making electrification accessible to everyone.
October 2024. It seems that Dacia likes to present something innovative when the market is "calm". It did it once with the Duster and, this year, it did it again with the launch of the Bigster, the Duster's big brother. With huge spaces, four-wheel drive, modern design and hybrid economical engines with the key factor here too being the affordable purchase price compared to the competition, Dacia seems not to rest on its laurels but to raise the bar even higher every now and then, putting all the other manufacturers in 'difficulty' with the models it presents.
Over the years
Over the years, Dacia has transformed from a company that assembled Renault models but with its own logo, to a company with its own models, never letting go of its strong ties with Renault, while its sales manage to stand out every year at European level. Now the factory has fully switched to the digital transition "Industri 4.0" where machines and processes are online, with the 7,000 current employees producing 1400 vehicles daily. Alongside Mioveni, the Sandero and Logan are also manufactured at the Renault Group's plants in North Africa, Algeria and Morocco. Only the all-electric model, the Spring, is produced outside European territory, in China, at the Dongfeng plant. With over 10 million happy customers, it continues to evolve giving affordable cars with substance to everyday driving.
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