Luca de Meo (foto), the new general manager (CEO) of Renault group, considers that Dacia project proved to be a miracle and that no one in the industry could make as much money as Dacia, at the current market level.
„Seen from the inside, Dacia looks more like a miracle. No one in the automotive industry can make that much money at this level of the market. It is the right time for Dacia to flourish as a stand-alone brand”, added Luca de Meo in the speech given on the occasion of the presentation of Renault results on Semester 1/2020.
In fact, the first Renault group subsidiary visited by its new boss, two weeks after his appointment, was Dacia Mioveni, a visit not at all publicized. Luca De Meo was also at the technical centre in Titu.
The praises regarding Dacia come in the context in which, at the end of May, Renault group announced the suspension of projects for increasing the production capacity in Romania and Morocco, as part of a plan to cut costs at the global level.
At the same time, Renault recorded some of the worst results in its history in the first half of this year.
Renault reported a 34.9% drop in sales to 1.26 million vehicles and a record loss of EUR 7.29 billion (compared to a profit of EUR 1.5 billion in the same period of 2019), results attributed mainly to the global crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic.
Luca De Meo suggests, however, that he plans an improved strategy to make Dacia brand even stronger.
Automobile Dacia’s turnover decreased by 2.1% in 2019 compared to 2018, down to EUR 5.2 billion, and its profit dropped by 13.5% to EUR 140 million, even though Dacia’s car production continued to rise in 2019, by 4.2%, to the highest level of almost 350,000 units.
Renault had planned last year to expand the plant in Mioveni in order to increase production to 400,000 units, but in February it has already stopped the investments of about EUR 100 million planned for this objective.
In early March, however, Dacia-Renault unveiled its Dacia Spring „show car”, „which foreshadows the brand’s first 100% electric model” and will start mass production in 2021, according to a press release the company issued at the moment.
