Approximately 200 engineers and specialists from the carmaker Automobile Dacia in Romania, owned by Renault Group, and its technical unit Renault Technologie Romania (RTR), will be extended significant severance packages as part of a voluntary departure campaign initiated by the company, according to Profit.ro. Unlike previous schemes, focused on the production area in Mioveni, the current program also includes the group's engineering perimeter, RTR.

According to sources familiar with the decision makers, the campaign is part of the Renault Group's staff reduction program in the Research & Development area, following the significant reduction in vehicle design and development processes.

The smallest amount will be received by those with up to two years of experience, namely RON 45,000 (almost EUR 9,000), while the largest amount will be awarded to those with over 16 years of experience, who will receive RON 210,000.

At this point, vehicle development time has been reduced from four to three and even two years, and new advanced design processes, many based on AI and highly efficient computers, have drastically reduced the efficiency of engineering departments. At the motorisation level, the transfer of all development activities to the group's dedicated unit Horse has left entire departments almost without work, while electric cars are increasingly simpler, and the components in the propulsion systems are largely outsourced.

Renault Group has already announced a reduction in staff in engineering centres globally, targeting approximately 20% of the workforce currently in these centres, which corresponds to a volume of several thousand people. The reduction is part of the new FuturREady plan announced by the new CEO, Francois Provost, and aims to increase the company's competitiveness.

The reductions will be achieved both by eliminating positions with retirement, but also through voluntary departures, such as the one in Romania, which will have similar criteria to the one initiated at the Dacia plant earlier this year.

Dacia’s low-cost model Logan loses ground in the Romanian market

In related news, the Dacia Logan, sold only in Romania, Bulgaria, North Africa, and several former Soviet republics, including Moldova, was no longer the best-selling model on the local market in May 2026, when the most expensive SUV model Duster topped the ranking, according to Profit.ro. Dacia sold only 435 Logan units in May, compared to 979 Duster units and 451 Toyota Corolla units.

The unexpected development may be an indication of the regressive impact of the fiscal consolidation measures on the households’ incomes: the lower-income ones, hardest hit by the inflation and frozen incomes, may have either deferred purchase decisions or shifted to the used-car segment. Separately, the companies’ decision to suspend investments in fleets may have impacted the low-cost model as well.

While the average sales of the Logan model on the local market were somewhere around 1,300 units per month over the past several years, including during the first part of 2025, when the sales diminished ahead of the delayed car scrappage scheme, the average was 700 - 800 copies per month.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Chernetskaya/Dreamstime.com)