Nicolae Ceausescu, the infamous dictator of Romania came to power in 1965 and wanted to implement socialist principles that would run this East European country. Decision makers were already in discussion with other Communist bloc automobile firms such as Czechoslovakia’s Skoda, East Germany’s Wartburg and Soviet Union’s Moskvitch but none appealed the dictator. 

Finally, Ceausescu felt that French firm Renault offered the best terms and so manufacturing of the Renault 12 was undertaken in 1968. The name Dacia was chosen as certain parts of modern Romania was called Dacia by the Romans.

The 1300 cc car was named Dacia 1300 and turned out to be Romania’s people car with nearly 2 million (20 lakh) made until the 1990s.

This model were popular as taxis too and used to ply in the capital, Bucharest and other cities.