The two Romanian car plants - Renault's Dacia and Ford - produced 77,173 units in the first two months of the year, 15% fewer than in the same period of 2020, according to the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACAROM).

Dacia's production decreased by more than 20%, while Ford produced 10% fewer units. In total, Dacia made almost 40,000 cars, and Ford - 37,000.

The semiconductor crisis hit the local production, particularly in February when the output shrunk by 18% year-on-year. In March, both companies announced outages due to the lack of microprocessors.

The crisis hit Romania's two plants in one of their best periods: Dacia plant now has in its portfolio two brand new models - Logan and Sandero Stepway - for which the demand is high, and the sales of the Puma SUV model, produced by Ford at Craiova, increased significantly in all its markets.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Ford Romania)