Renault’s Romanian brand Dacia reports 3% sales drop worldwide

Renault’s Dacia, a Romanian brand,reported a 3 percent decrease in sales, to 177,000 units in the first half of 2011 worldwide, according to the French group Renault. With a supply constraint on diesel engines, the Dacia brand reported a 2.5 percent decrease in sales and maintained a market share of 1.6 percent in Europe, excluding the French market. Dacia Duster, launched in April 2010, has proved successful, with nearly 71,000 registrations at end-June, shows the company. In France, Dacia ranked fifth in sales to private customers with 50,417 units and reported a 21.6 percent fall in sales for market share of 3.5 percent. “The good performance of Duster did not offset the decrease in registrations for Sandero, linked to the end of the LPG bonus. The Dacia brand was also affected by supply constraints”, according to Renault officials. At a group level, Renault set a new sales record worldwide in first-half 2011 with 1.4 million units, up 1.9 percent compared to 2010. The group is forecasting 3 to 4 percent growth in the global market in 2011, compared to the one recorded last year, while in France, the group’s market share at end-2011 should be close to that of end-2010, according to Renault. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Dacia Grup)