Dacia Back on Rise With 360,000 Units Sold in 2012

Romanian automaker Dacia reported sales up 5% to 360,000 units in 2012, back on rise.

The 360,000 vehicles were manufactures at three plants, one in Pitesti (330,000 vehicles), Romania and the other two in Morocco, Tangier and Casablanca. Dacia’s largest market remained France with 84,522 vehicles sold there, a decrease of 10% compared with 2011, followed by Germany with 46,590 units sold, up 7% and Algeria, 41,710 vehicles sold.

As the vehicles sold in Algeria are manufactured in Pitesti, the growth reached in the North African market has a direct impact on the turnover of Dacia vehicles. The main reason for this increase is the fact that last year the automaker introduced six new models.

“This allowed the Dacia brand to renew the offer by introducing new Logan, Sandero and Sandero Stepway. Moreover, the range was extended on new market segments, such as family vehicles and utilities, with Lodgy models, Dokker and Dokker Van”, said Dacia spokesman.

International sales increased 8%, while sales in Western Europe remained stable at 230,000 units. The automaker’s sales in Romania fell 28% to 22,140 vehicles, from 30,867 units sold in 2011. Sales were also affected by the lending restrictions, with the share for retail customers falling 50%. Still Dacia managed to keep its position as the leading automaker in Romania, its sales accounting for 26% of the auto sales in the country. The Logan sedan kept the first position is sales with 9,208 units, followed by the Duster with 5,447 units and the Logan MCV with 1,940 units.

“Last year saw a new fall of the overall market of new cars, which is at a level that hasn’t been registered since the start of the century, while the second hand market of imported cars soared by 75 percent,” said Dacia in an official statement.

Here is the sales chart for each model in Romania