A Socialist–Capitalist joint venture: Citroën in Romania during the 1980s

Abstract

After summarising 1960s first Romanian industrial deals with the West countries, this paper explores the 1976–94 cooperation with the French automobile manufacturer Citroën to build a new automotive plant in Romania. The contract with Citroën established a joint venture in Romania to produce the Citroën Axel for Western markets (branded Oltcit in Romania, after the name of the Romanian company). The deal highlighted the importance of transport for state-building processes and for creating a modern society in socialist Romania through industrial capacity building. Citroën was instead looking for peripheral production centres to lower production costs and boost sales. Unmet production volumes and standards, and shaky supply lines, gradually undermined the project. The Oltcit–Citroën deal failed because, even with Citroën’s assistance, Romanian car manufactures proved incapable of producing flawless cars and of meeting delivery terms.