Romanian Carmaker Dacia Q1 Exports At 80,000 Cars, France Tops Germany As Main Export Market

Romanian carmaker Dacia, owned by France’s Renault, exported nearly 80,000 cars in the first quarter of the year, and the main export market was France, which overtook the Romanian carmaker’s biggest export market of last year, Germany, Dacia CEO Jerome Olive said Tuesday.

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France replaced Germany in the first quarter as Dacia's top export market, mainly because Germany didn't continue its clunkers program in 2010, Olive said during the Mediafax Talks about Auto Industry conference in Bucharest Tuesday.

Dacia exported 33,014 cars to France in the first quarter of this year, 9,859 cars to Italy, and 7,220 cars to Germany. The carmaker's next ranked export market are Algeria with 6,237 cars, Spain with 4,565 cars, Morocco with 4,172 cars and Poland with 1,023 cars.

Olive explained Romania, Dacia's home market, is also its weak point in terms of sales.

"The fact that we don't sell so much in Romania is a problem, because no large carmaker has grown without the help of its home market," Olive said.

He also said Renault invested EUR1.5 billion in Romania until the end of last year and the Duster, Dacia's first SUV, required investments of EUR73 million.

Dacia launched its low-cost SUV at the Geneva auto salon early March. The car has since been launched in Romania and prices range from EUR10,500 to EUR15,600.

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