Much of the Romanian manufacturing industry consists of branch plants of foreign firms, though there are some important domestic manufacturers, such asAutomobile Dacia,Ford Romania,Roman Braşov andIgero.[1] In 2018, est. 500,000automobiles were produced in Romania.
During theCommunist period, Romania was one of the largest automobile producers inCentral and Eastern Europe, however the industry declined after the1989 revolution. Previously, other domestic manufacturers such asTractorul Braşov,ARO andOltcit existed, however they eventually went bankrupt due to botched privatization in the 1990s. Since 1990, several foreign companies, includingMercedes,Audi,Hyundai,Volvo,Toyota, andPeugeot, expressed interest in opening branch plants in Romania.[2] In 2014, the Romanian automotive industry ranks fifth in Central and Eastern Europe, behind that of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.
Ford bought theAutomobile Craiova plant for $57 million, planning to produce automobiles at a rate of over 300,000 units a year by 2010.[3][4][5] Ford said it would invest €675 million (US$923 million) in the former Daewoo car factory and that it would buy supplies from the Romanian market worth €1 billion (US$1.39 billion).[6] In September 2009, the company began to assemble theFord Transit Connect in Craiova, and in 2012, production of the newFord B-Max was started.[7]
Robert Bosch GmbH, the world’s largest supplier of automotive components will invest as much as 60 million euros ($79 million) in a new factory in Jucu - Romania. The new Bosch facility will produce electronic components for automobiles, and will create about 2,000 jobs.[8]
Dacia Logan was the top-selling new car in Central and Eastern Europe in the first half of 2007 with 52,750 units sold, ahead of Skoda Fabia (41,227 units), Skoda Octavia (33,483 units), Opel Astra (16,442 units) and Ford Focus (14,909 units).[9]
In 2012, Dacia launched four new models, theLodgy and theDokker,[10] and the second generations of the Logan andSandero,[11] whereas Ford launched their new mini MPV, theB-Max. Both manufacturers also introduced two new and technologically advancedturbochargedthree-cylinder petrol engines (the 1.0-litreEcoBoost and the 0.9-litreTCe engine),[12] which are locally produced and represented premieres in their segments.[13][14]
