Born in 1968, then relaunched by Renault Group from 2004 across Europe and Mediterranean countries, Dacia has always offered the best value for money cars by constantly redefining the essentials. As a game-changer, Dacia proposes simple, multi-purpose, reliable cars in tune with customers’ lifestyles. Dacia models have become a reference on the market, including Sandero, the best-selling retail car in Europe each year since 2017; Duster, the best-selling SUV to European private customers since 2018; and Jogger, the C-segment versatile family car. Present in 44 countries, Dacia has sold more than 8 million vehicles since 2004. Dacia launched in the UK in January 2013 and enjoyed the most successful start ever for a new car brand in the UK. More than 250,000 Dacia vehicles have been sold in the UK to date.

History

Automobile Dacia S.A. is a Romanian car manufacturer that takes its name from the historic region that constitutes much of present-day Romania. Dacia, the main car manufacturer in Romania, was established in 1966 when the car factory in Mioveni was built. Two years later the first Dacia 1100 car was produced under Renault 8 license.

In 1999 Renault purchased 51% of the company’s share capital following the privatisation process, holding now 99.43% of Dacia’s equity. The company was subject to a thorough modernisation programme: upgrading industrial installations, reorganising the supply network, rebuilding the commercial network, reorganising activities and training staff. These materialised in the award of three quality management standards, one of them in the area of environmental protection.

The total investments made by Renault at Dacia, exceeding 2.2 billion Euro, contributed to Dacia’s position as one of the major companies in the Romanian economy, with a significant share in the country’s gross domestic product and exports. In 2014 Automobile Dacia became the company with the highest turnover in Romania.

Dacia’s objective is to produce a range of robust, reliable and accessible vehicles for Romanian and foreign clients, at Renault quality standards. The quality of Dacia products enjoys international recognition. According to surveys performed by specialised institutions and magazines, Dacia clients declare themselves very satisfied with the quality of Dacia cars.

Dacia is the second brand of Renault Group and has a significant contribution to improving Romania’s image abroad. Dacia’s success can be explained by their unsurpassed ratio price/quality/facilities/reliability. More than 93% of the output of Mioveni Vehicle Plant is exported in 34 countries on four continents.

Founded: 1966, Mioveni, Romania
Headquarters: Mioveni, Romania

Dacia in figures (2011 data)

1,877 sales outlets (primary network)
The brand is available in 36 countries (Europe, North Africa and Turkey)
13,684 employees
343,233 vehicles sold

Romania’s leading auto maker with 29% market share (passenger and light commercial vehicles)
1,000,000 Logan (all versions included) produced between 2004 and October 2010

The key to Dacia’s success has been our simple formula: space and quality, at an unbelievable price. The key is ingenious design, Dacia specifies its vehicles with the basic essentials as standard, without unwanted extras built into the cost.

As a brand of the Renault Group, Dacia uses clever sourcing and proven technology to ensure its cars are reliable, robust and affordable. From the Sandero hatchback to the Duster SUV, Dacia cars are simple to use and affordable to own. That’s why German customers voted Dacia their second favourite manufacturer in the J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey, in 2010.

In 1999, after 33 years, the Romanian government sold Dacia to the French car manufacturer Groupe Renault