Romania sits near the bottom in terms of European car production, according to the statistical data released by the Carmakers' International Organisation (OICA).
In 2007, 241,712 cars were manufactured in Romania, up 13.2% year-on-year. Of these, a little more than 234,000 were passenger cars, while light vehicles accounted for 7,444 units, representing the Van version of Dacia Logan.
At a European level, Romania is third from bottom, ahead of only Serbia, where GM assembled 9,903 cars, and Slovenia, where 198,402 cars were manufactured.
Whereas in Hungary, Suzuki boasts the highest output, with Audi in second place, in Romania, Dacia holds the dominant position. Since February, the Mioveni plant has produced 61.3 cars per hour, or one unit ever 52 seconds.
Thus, the Renault-owned company has produced, on average, 1,300 units every day this year. To reach this impressive rate, Dacia has hired almost 900 new employees since the start of this year. According to company officials, while last year 222,914 cars were assembled in Mioveni, in 2008 over 320,000 cars will be manufactured, which includes the new Sandero and the Pick-Up version of Logan.
Despite a three-week strike at the plant, the company's officials maintain this year's production target will be met. As part of Renault's 2009 plan, Dacia will produce over 400,000 cars in Mioveni in 2009.
After production in Craiova reached 18,825 units last year, down almost 20% year-on-year, and is forecast to reach a minimum of around 3,000 units this year, Ford Motor Company, the new owner of Automobile Craiova will boost production to 300,000 units in 2012.
The number of jobs at Ford Craiova will be raised to 7,000-9,000 by 2012, and generate 36,000 jobs in total, while overall investments will hit 675m euros.
Dacia and Ford will manufacture over 700,000 cars together in Romania in 2012, a similar level to Poland's output in 2007.
Should Mercedes-Benz decide to build a new car plant with a production capacity of 350,000 units in Romania to assemble the next generation of A and B-Klasse models, after 2012 Romania may produce over a million cars per year.
The CEE car industry has boomed in recent years, with almost 6.2 million cars being assembled in this region, according to OICA statistics. In 2007, CEE production rose by 18.7%, much faster than the 5.5% level registered globally.
In the same year, figures confirmed the ever stronger role of the CEE region in the world's car industry, considering the world's top ten carmakers hold plants in this region they mainly use for export on Western markets.
CEE production accounts for 10% in overall passenger car production, and 5% in the production of commercial vehicles.
Domestic auto production
In 2007, 241,712 cars were manufactured in Romania, up 13.2% year-on-year. Of these, a little more than 234,000 were passenger cars, while light vehicles accounted for 7,444 units
At a European level, Romania is third from bottom, ahead of Serbia and Slovenia
Dacia and Ford are expected to manufacture over 700,000 cars together domestically in 2012
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