Romania's car brand Dacia sales go up 16% in first half of 2013 while parent company sees Renault sales drop

Sales of Romania's car brand Dacia went up by 16.5 percent in the first half of the year on the same period of 2012, to some 211,000 units. The results are due to the success of the Duster model, and to better sales in Lodgy and Dokker (in picture) models, as well as to the new options for Logan and Sandero, according to car maker Renault, the owner of Dacia. The Dacia brand brought 16.2 percent of Renault's car sales in the first six months of the year, according to the French group. The Dacia brand, bolstered by the renewal of its range and the relevance of its offer in today’s difficult economic environment in Europe, grew its market share 0.4 points to 2.0 percent, the strongest increase in market share and sales volume of any brand in the first half of the year, according to the car maker. Meanwhile, Renault brand sales were down 4.6 percent, with the 4.3 percent rise in sales outside Europe failing to offset the 12.5 percent fall in sales in Europe. With 1 million units, the Renault brand accounted for 81.5 percent of group's sales. The turnover of Group Renault Romania went slightly up last year, to some EUR 3.9 billion, which includes both the Automobile Dacia production unit, its sales division Renault Commercial Roumanie, as well as the divisions that produce gears, engines and other components. Automobile Dacia brings however the largest part of the revenues, EUR 2.85 billion last year. The car maker's turnover was down 8 percent on the year before, but the drop did not affect the turnover of the group in Romania. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Dacia)