In 2010, Dacia exported 311,000 units, a 15% increase compared to 2009

International sales of Automobile Dacia last year increased 15% compared to 2009, to over 311,000 units, with France being the main export market for the Romanian carmaker, accounting for more than one third of the total number of units delivered.

The deliveries of Dacia to France increased 67%, to 110,076 units, whereas those to Germany dropped 52%, to 40,500 units, making it the company"s second largest export market in 2010, compared to 2009 when it was the first.

Rafael Treguer, the development director of Dacia explained that the reduced demand on the German market is due to shrinking demand on the German market caused by the end of the national car fleet renewal program. Among the company"s main export markets, Italy comes third, with 21,930 units, followed closely by Spain, with 21,739 units. The latter moved up two spots, with a 140% increase, before Turkey (+97%) and Algeria (+7%), which ranked fifth and sixth, with 19,167, namely 18,578 units delivered, countries which switched places in 2010.

Automobile Dacia has also exported significant volumes in Belgium, where its sales increased 140%, (11,403 units), Austria, where deliveries increased 27% (6,068 units), Poland (6,018 units) and Holland, with exports 36% higher, (5,557 units). In 2010, Poland entered the top ten export destinations for Dacia, eliminating Serbia from the chart.

On Monday, the head of the company"s global development department said that no major changes are expected when it comes to the structure of the company"s sales, apart from Spain and Italy, for which major changes in demand are forecasted.

Despite the fact that the company intends to open 50 new showrooms across the world this year, for a total of 200 branches, the company is not considering entering new markets in 2011.

"We are not looking to expand to other markets in 2011, but we can say that we are getting ready to enter one of the most important markets for Dacia, in 2012, namely Great Britain. The UK could soon become a market even more important than France", Treguer said, quoted by Mediafax.

A major contribution to the increase in exports was the launch of the company"s first SUV, Duster, for which the company received over 100,000 orders from foreign customers, of which 62,000 were honoured by the end of last year.

Automobile Dacia sold 348.723 vehicles last year, up 12% over 2009. Out of the total sales, 36,730 units were delivered on the domestic market, down 20% over 2009.