Bulgarrenault (or Bulgar Renault) was an automobile produced in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the result of a collaboration between Metalhim (a Bulgarian defense firm) and Bulet (a Bulgarian export trade organization). Production lasted for five years (1966-1970), during which the factory in Plovdiv produced two Renault models: the Renault 8 and the Renault 10. Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Пловдив) is the second largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 376,918. ... Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Пловдив) is the second largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 376,918. ... Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing cars, vans, buses, tractors and trucks. ... Renault 8 Renault 10 Renault 8 Gordini The Renault 8 (Renault R8 until 1964) and Renault 10 were compact automobiles produced by the French manufacturer Renault in the 1960s and early 1970s. ... The Renault 8 was a small, rear-engined saloon car made by Renault in France and Spain, based on the platform of the outgoing Renault Dauphine. ...

Beginnings

In the middle of the 1960s, following the initiative of ETO (export trade organization) Bulet, a joint-venture was formed between Bulet and SPC (state production cooperative) Metalhim, with the purpose of building passenger cars. At the time, ETO Bulet was involved in the trade of all kinds of manufactured goods, while SPC Metalhim was a manufacturing cooperative uniting all national defense factories in Bulgaria. The basic idea was to purchase complete knockdown (CKD) kits of passenger cars from abroad with Bulet's available hard-currency reserves, and then to assemble them in the factories owned by Metalhim. Several offers had already been made by foreign car manufacturers (such as Renault, Fiat, Simca, and Alfa Romeo), but Renault's offer was deemed to be the most attractive one. (The French automobile manufacturer's first offer was made on May 27, 1963, concerning the assembly of the Renault 4 and Renault 4L passenger cars.) CKD is a three-letter acronym that stands for Complete, Knocked Down. ... FIAT Group, or Fiat S.p. ... Simca Rallye 2 Simca is a now-defunct French automobile manufacturer, which also produced cars in Brazil and Spain in the 1960s. ... Alfa Romeo is an Italian automobile manufacturing company, founded as Darracq Italiana by Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an aristocrat from Milan in partnership with the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq. ... May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... The Renault 4, also known as the 4L (pronounced Quatrelle, which could be heard as 4 wings in French), was an automobile produced by the French Renault manufacturer between 1961 and 1993. ...

On July 30, 1966, the Council of Ministers issued a formal authorization to SPC Metalhim to begin negotiations with Renault through the mediation of ETO Bulet. (Initially, the assembly of the cars was intended for a factory in the town of Cherven Bryag.) July 30 is the 211th day (212th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 154 days remaining. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ...

The official state newspaper Rabotnichesko Delo in its issue #261 of September 18, 1966, announced that ETO Bulet and Renault had signed a contract, and only two days later 10 passengers cars Renault 8 were shown at the Ploviv Fair, rumored to have been assembled in the Military Factory in the town of Kazanlak. The cars were branded Bulgarrenault, and the upper left side of their windshield bore a tricolor sticker with an inscription Bulet. September 18 is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Location of Kazanlak on a map of Bulgaria Kazanlak (Bulgarian: Казанлък) is a small town in Bulgaria lying at the eastern end of the world-famous Rose Valley. ...

Rabotnichesko Delo's issue of September 21, 1966, contained a quote from a senior manager at Renault regarding the just-signed contract with ETO Bulet, which planned that over 10,000 passengers cars model Renault 8 would be assembled in Bulgaria in 1970. September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ...

Production start

The project leaders of the establishment of the Renault assembly works in Bulgaria were the French engineer Oberge, and the managing directors of ETO Bulet Emil Razlogov and of SPC Metalhim gen. Yamakov. Stefan Vaptsarov became the technical leader, while Atanas Taskov and Georgi Mladenov were named as heads of the export of passengers cars at ETO Bulet. A group of Bulgarian engineers was concurrently assigned to undergo a three-month long training at Renault's factories in France.

Initially, France provided all necessary parts and components of the cars, but the plan was to gradually switch to a progressive assembly, which would eventually lead to the great majority of them being manufactured in Bulgaria.

In 1967, the assembly line was moved to the city of Plovdiv, where the construction of the new car-assembly factory had just been completed. Until the formal dedication of the factory, the assembly temporarily took place in Hall #10 of the Plovdiv Fairgrounds. International Fair Plovdiv (Международен панаир Пловдив), held in Plovdiv, is Bulgarias largest and oldest international trade fair. ...

The new factory functioned until 1970 and, in addition to its fully-automated moving assembly line, it included modern welding and painting machinery as well, the latter obtained at a cost of US$15 million.

Production increase and end

In 1967, Bulgaria exported 16,000 accessory kits to France, while in 1968 their number was slated to increase to 100,000. The annual production of the car assembly plant was intended to reach 3,000 passenger cars, but that ambitious goal was never reached. Until 1970, the Plovdiv factory produced approximately 4,000 cars model Bulgarrenault 8 and 10, at a total cost of the French-supplied parts and components of US$6 million, averaging US$1,500 per production car. The first production cars were marketed in Bulgaria in February 1967, which was officially announced in issue #2 of the car enthusiast magazine Avto-Moto. The magazine mentioned a price of 5,500 Bulgarian leva per car, but the actual prices were fixed at 6,100 leva for the Bulgarrenault 8 and 6,800 leva for the Bulgarrenault 10. A certain part of the newly-assembled cars are sold abroad as well; during 1967-1969, 500 Bulgarrenault 10 cars are exported to Yugoslavia, and in 1970 another 300 (some sources mention 900) Bulgarrenault 8 and 10 cars are exported to Austria. Other purchasers of Bulgarrenault included some Middle Eastern countries. The Lev (lv) (Bulgarian: лев, plural - leva) is the currency of Bulgaria, and it has been used since 1881. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all South Slavic languages, Југославија in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic) is a term used for the three separate political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

All production of the Bulgarrenault passenger cars stopped in early 1970.

Export numbers

• 1968: 522
• 1969: 789
• 1970: 462
• total exports: 1773