Romanian automobile manufacturer Automobile Dacia S.A. was founded in the year 1966 under the name Uzina de Autoturisme Pitesti. It started out by acquiring the tools and basic designs of the Renault 12, but instead was licence to sell Renault 8 vehicles, which were known as the Dacia 1100.
Only 44,000 Dacia 1100's were produced between 1968 and 1972 until the Dacia 1300 left the assembly line and 1100's ceased being made.
In 1999, Renault Group wanted to make Romania its hub of automobile development in Eastern and also Central Europe, so they bought Dacia in September of that year and heavily invested in the company. The first sign of their investment came in 2000 when they introduced the SupeRNova, which to this day holds a 50% market share in Romania.
In 2011, the company turned over a revenue of over €3 billion and currently employs 13,800 people worldwide.