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Romania Automotive Industry
In 1965 a fledgling automotive industry produced only
3,653
passenger cars. In the 1980s, the industry consisted of
three large
auto assembly plants (at Pitesti, Craiova, and Cīmpulung
in
Arges, judet), eight subassembly enterprises, and
more
than 100 automotive parts factories. Production in 1988
amounted to
121,400 passenger cars and 17,400 trucks--well below the
target set
forth in the Eighth Five-Year Plan, which had anticipated
an annual
production of 365,000 automobiles by 1990.
A plant in Pitesti began assembling Dacia passenger
cars in
1968 under license from Renault and turned out its
millionth unit
in 1985. In 1986 an affiliated plant in Timisoara began
building
a subcompact, the Dacia 500, using exclusively
Romanian-designed
and Romanian-produced components; the plant expected the
car to
compete on the world market beginning in 1990. Other
automotive
centers in the 1980s were Craiova (Oltcit automobiles
produced
under license from Citröen); Cīmpulung (Aro cross-country
vehicles); Brasov (trucks and tractors); Braila
(earthmovers);
and Bucharest (vans and panel trucks). In 1989
negotiations were
under way to set up a joint venture with two Japanese
corporations
to manufacture buses and trucks at a factory in Bucharest
for sale
to third-world countries.
Between 50 and 80 percent of the automotive industry's
output
during the 1980s was exported. Poor quality control,
however,
damaged the international reputation of Romanian vehicles.
Hungary,
a primary client, complained that 60 to 70 percent of
Dacia cars
delivered in 1986 were defective and required repairs
before they
could be sold to the public.
Data as of July 1989
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