Renault’s Dacia factories in Romania are ready to resume production on a limited basis as soon as April 21, the automaker said.
Safety measures have been put in place at Dacia’s industrial complex in Mioveni, northwest of Bucharest, Renault said in a news release. The factories have been closed since mid-March due to coronavirus restrictions.
The first operations to restart will be at the engine and chassis factory, and at the stamping shop at the assembly plant, with “a reduced team, on a voluntary basis,” the automaker said. All operations will resume at both plants on May 4.
About 14,000 people work at the Mioveni complex. The assembly plant there is the largest in Renault Group, with an output of 1,300 Dacia cars a day, 90 percent of which are exported. The engine and chassis factory produces components for Dacia, Renault and Nissan vehicles. It is also the site of the largest logistics hubs in the Renault-Nissan alliance.
In 2018 the plant built about 335,000 vehicles, of which about 230,000 were Dacia Dusters, the brand’s small SUV that is among the segment leaders in Europe.
Romania’s government declared a 30-day state of emergency on March 16. The Dacia plant, as well as a Ford factory in Craiova that employs 6,000 people, were shut down soon after. An initial restart date of April 5 for the Dacia factories was extended last week.
Romanian news media have said the Ford plant is expected to remain closed until early May.