Oltcit SA
| Oltcit SA | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Societatea Anonimă |
| founding | 1976 |
| resolution | 1991 |
| Seat | Craiova , Romania |
| Branch | Automobile manufacturing |
Oltcit SA was a Romanian automobile manufacturer based in Craiova .
history
The company was founded on December 27, 1976 as a joint venture between Citroën and the Romanian state, with Citroën holding 36% of the shares. On the Romanian side, the Industry Association for the Production of Passenger Cars and Commercial Vehicles and Auto Dacia were involved with 49% and 15% respectively. One source puts the French stake in company capital at only 25%.
The name is composed of that of the river Olt and that of the partner Citroën.
An annual production of 130,000 vehicles and 158,000 engines was planned, 50,000 of which were to be exported to France. These vehicles were also intended to serve as payment for the imported technology and some of the supplied parts. However, a source says that the Romanian Foreign Trade Bank took out a loan of $ 75 million to build the factory.
Romania was only able to build the plant with considerable delays, due to a lack of qualified suppliers, production had to be carried out using the CKD process, and Citroën was also only able to deliver the first kits with a considerable delay in 1981. The vehicle to be produced was presented on October 15, 1981 at the Bucharest trade fair. Production began at the beginning of 1982 and lagged considerably behind schedule. A lack of experience resulted in serious quality defects that had to be reworked. In the first year only 7915 and 1983 8200 cars were made. In its two most productive years, 1984 and 1985, Oltcit did not even produce half of the targeted number. At that time, export to France finally began, where the vehicle was marketed under the name Axel . In further bilateral negotiations in 1986, the contracting parties had serious differences. Two years later, Citroën announced to the Romanian side that from now on they would neither deliver CKD kits nor buy finished vehicles.
The main reason given for the failure of the cooperation is the poor production quality.
With its decision, Citroën was de facto no longer involved in this company. Without the French parts, the vehicles were of even poorer quality.
From 1991 the successor company Automobile Craiova continued the production of the vehicle. The plant was run by Daewoo Automobile from 1993 to 2006 and has been used by today's Ford Romania company since 2007 .
Models
Only one model was made, which was sold in Western Europe between 1984 and 1988 under the name Citroën Axel , with the remainder remaining until 1991. In Eastern Europe, it was sold under the brand name Oltcit .
While the exported model was available with either a 1,129 cm³ (57 hp) or 1,299 cm³ (61.5 hp) four-stroke engine , the Oltcit was available in the Special version with a boxer engine with two cylinders , 652 cm³ and 30 hp (22 kW) from the Citroën Visa not in Western Europe.
In 1986 four special vehicles were created as convertibles. Another Olda model , which combined the body of the Oltcit with Dacia technology and was to be exported to Canada, also remained a prototype made in four copies.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Slavo Radosevic and Andrew Rozeik: Foreign direct investment and restructuring in the car industry in Central and East Europe. (PDF) Center for the Study of Social and Economic Change in Europe, accessed on November 10, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Michael Dünnebier, Eberhard Kittler : Passenger Cars of Socialist Countries. Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-344-00382-8 , pp. 120-122.
- ↑ January Monkiewicz and Maciej Lebkowski: Les entreprises à participation étrangère installées dans les pays socialistes. Étude comparative . In: Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest . tape 18 , no. 1 , 1987, pp. 87–126 , doi : 10.3406 / receo.1987.1295 ( persee.fr [accessed November 11, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c d e f g Luminita Gatejel: A Socialist – Capitalist joint venture: Citroën in Romania during the 1980s . In: The Journal of Transport History . tape 38 , no. 1 , 2017, p. 70-87 ( sagepub.com ).
- ↑ Bernard Vermeylen: Cars from the Eastern Bloc . Delius Klasing publishing house, Bielefeld, ISBN 978-3-7688-3149-9 , pp. 102-106
- ^ Jeanne Kirk Laux: La Roumanie et les multinationales . In: Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest . tape 12 , no. 4 , 1981, p. 61–89 , doi : 10.3406 / receo.1981.2368 ( persee.fr [accessed November 11, 2018]).
- ↑ Elena Rusu and Marius Nicolae Grad: La matérialisation de la coopération économique entre la France et la Roumanie pendant la période communiste . In: Synergies Roumanie . tape 11 , 2016, p. 55-66 ( gerflint.fr [PDF]).