Romania’s Dacia car plant ponders resuming production after mid-April

Representatives of Romanian car producer Dacia, part of Renault group, are working on a strategy to resume production after mid-April while preserving the employees’ safety by observing tighter sanitary regulations, minister of economy Virgil Popescu told Digi 24 TV after having consulted the top managers in the national automotive industry on April 1.

Dacia suspended operations on March 19 until April 5. On April 2, the company announced officially that it will prolong the shutdown period, without mentioning a deadline for resuming production.

“They told me that they were preparing a production resumption scenario, so as to protect people's health. Imagine that there are 16,000 employees out there, but they will sketch a workflow so as to observe the 1 - 1.5 meter distancing between employees, they will also wear protective masks and will use biocide substances so that the work is done safely. This is something I am glad to hear,” said minister Popescu, speaking for Digi 24 TV.

Resuming production, however, needs broad coordination with the car part suppliers in the horizontal industry and also a coordination with the cross-border supply chains, Popescu added.

“I am optimistic that, in April, maybe in the second part of the month, production will start in Dacia,” the official said.

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