The ceremony of handing over the keys of the first 10 vehicles was held on Tuesday, 7 October 2014, at the Dacia plant in Mioveni, in the presence of Nicolas Maure, General Manager of Renault Group Romania, of Gabriel Selischi, member of the OMV Petrom management in charge for Exploration and Production, and of Stelian Ion, General Manager of SC Romturingia SRL.
The partnership between the three companies covers the delivery of more than 500 vehicles by the end of 2015.
The Duster Pick-Up vehicles produced for OMV Petrom are derived from the 4x4 series model and are equipped with the 1.5 dCi, 110 HP motor, being adapted to respond to the specific needs of the oil and gas industry. They offer a simple two-seat cabin and a medium size rear window, protected by a grate. The cabin is reinforced on the outside. The bed body is 1.7 m long and may transport up to 450 kg load.
The project of Duster conversion into the Pick-Up version started at the end of 2012 and included building several prototypes, followed by obtaining homologation from Renault Group, obtaining homologation from RAR (Romanian Auto Register) by Romturingia with support from Renault Group and finally the preparation for production.
„Duster Pick-Up demonstrates Dacia's capacity to respond to clients' requirements with products adapted to their needs. In this case we speak about OMV Petrom, a group with whom we have had a fruitful long term collaboration. At the same time Duster Pick-Up is a new benchmark in our partnership with Romturingia, one of the most important companies specialised in vehicle conversions and car body arrangement in Romania. I am sure that Duster Pick-Up will prove the right solution to all requirements of our client”, said Nicolas Maure, General Manager of Renault Group Romania.
"Off-road utility vehicles are essential for our activity. OMV Petrom has more than 9,000 active wells, which require monitoring and maintenance. Many of them are far from national roads, hence the necessity for off-road vehicles which can also transport equipment. I am content that we will be able to use Romanian vehicles for these tasks as well, while at the same time reducing costs, said Gabriel Selischi, member of OMV Petrom management responsible for Exploration and Production.
„The project of transforming the Duster model into the Pick-Up version was a real challenge for us, which we managed by mobilising all our teams. We are proud of the result achieved and of the fact that we managed, in a short time frame according to car industry standards, to provide the right solution to the requirements of the very demanding specifications", said, in his turn, Stelian Ion, General Manager of SC Romturingia SRL.