Renault Launches A Design Center In Bucharest

Romanian prime minister Calin Tariceanu, who attended the opening of the center, said that in 1997, when he was industries minister and he initiated talks with Renault for the privatization of the Dacia Pitesti car factory, he could not have imagined what the French group would bring to Romania.

"At that time, the context was not in the least favorable and it was very difficult to invest in a market that did not say much," Tariceanu said.

The center, officially launched Friday, is functional since September 2007, and it currently has 15 employees from Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovenia, Canada and France. This is the sixth Renault design center in the world, after the ones in Spain (Barcelona), France (Paris), Korea, India and Latin America.