Car production in Romania recovers after lockdown

Car production at the Dacia and Ford factories in Romania decreased by 38.7% in May compared to the same month of 2019.

However, this marked an improvement compared to April when the two factories were closed amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

Dacia and Ford produced 29,353 vehicles in May after the reopening of their plants, a drastic reduction from the nearly 48,000 vehicles in May 2019.

Dacia manufactured 20,295 cars, while Ford produced only 9,058 vehicles, according to data supplied by the association of Romanian producers and importers of automobiles ACAROM.

During March-April, only 32,033 cars were produced in Romania, a decrease of 62.82%, compared to the similar period in 2019.

Both Dacia and Ford shut down their factories in the second half of March and resumed operations only in May.

The Dacia plant produced 18,448 cars, and the Ford plant 13,585 vehicles, in the mentioned interval.

In the first five months of the year, Romania manufactured 152,412 cars, 30.5% fewer than last year, when 219,298 vehicles were produced.

Car sales in Romania declined by 45% in May and by 31.4% in the first five months, according to the European car producers' association ACEA.

The local market's decline was lower than that of the EU market, where car sales dropped by 52.3% in May and by 41.5% in the first five months.

Dacia's sales in Europe dropped by more than 52% in May, and in the first five months of this year, ACEA data shows.

(Photo: media.ford.com)