Dacia chief Mihai Bordeanu said out loud what press releases had avoided: output at Mioveni is down 10-11% on last year, and the next Duster and Bigster are not guaranteed in Arges. He did not announce a plant move. He said every option stays on the table while Romanian costs stay far above Morocco's.

The interview, picked up by Antena 3 from Economedia, puts electricity at the centre. In Morocco, Bordeanu said, plants pay less than half the Mioveni tariff, and state support is visible down to the highway from factory to port. In Romania, he added, the ball has been kicked into touch: the government left industry with a bill it cannot carry alone.

Brand chief Denis Le Vot speaks of a cost cut of at least 20%, aiming at 30% by 2030, with suppliers and the state. That is not a published relocation plan. It is a deadline: if Mioveni does not close the gap, the next generations can go where energy and logistics are cheaper.

After Luca de Meo left, Francois Provost put it more coldly: Romanian operations are not competitive, and power prices are among Europe's highest. For a volume plant, a few euros per megawatt-hour show up on every car.

Morocco is not a slogan. It has a Dacia line, cheaper power and a road to the ship. Romania has suppliers, history and a factory that still holds Mioveni together. History does not pay the invoice. If the state wants to keep Duster and Bigster, it has to show a power price a line can live with, not a speech about cars as a national priority.

A tenth less output is already an internal signal. The next step is not a soothing note. It is a sum: what a Duster costs in Mioveni versus across the Mediterranean. Until that gap narrows, the next generation remains a sentence, not a contract.

This is not investment advice and does not claim Renault has signed a move. It reports what management said: Romanian costs are not keeping up, and the future of the two models at Mioveni is not secured.

Image: Mishu57, Dacia Stadium in Mioveni, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the town ground, not the assembly line in October 2026.

Sources consulted: Mioveni could lose Duster and Bigster production - Antena 3; Dacia chief, a hard message for the government - Economedia.