Roman (vehicle manufacturer)
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Autocamioane Roman is a Romanian truck manufacturer that was established after World War II on the foundation of the old ROMLOC automotive factory built in 1921. In the spirit of the communist days, the industrial plant was named Steagul Rosu (the Red Flag). In 1954, the first batch of SR 101 trucks came out of the factory. The SR 101 was an extremely strong, easy to drive truck. It had a fuel, 4 stroke, six cylinder, 5.550 cc engine. It was a 1955-1958 standard construction. Load capacity was 4 tons and its maximum speed was 65 km/h.
In 1958 they decided to produce a new type, as the SR 101 no longer complied with international vehicle standards. The new design used a V8 fuel engine truck, and its cab has been designed at Chausson Plant in France. The first V8 SR 131 trucks were produced in the summer of 1960 in two types: Carpati of 3 tons load, and Bucegi of 5 tons load. Generally, those trucks included all the western technology elements of the time. The range has been completed in five years by the following versions: military vehicle, long vehicle, tip-lorry, crane, forward cab. Torpedo, Perkins and Mercedes diesel engine were used for export products.
In 1967, as Carpati and Bucegi types became old fashion, an auction was launched for a new type featuring the following specifications: load capacity of 12-18 tons, diesel engine, a forward cab, observance of CEE-ONU standards.
Büssing, Mercedes-Benz, MAN-Saviem and Unic came to build after considering the offers, and the decision was to sign a contract with the West-German MAN AG company. This contract led to the construction, under licence, of two types of badge engineered ROMAN: medium 135 hp (101 kW) and heavy 215 hp (160 kW), with a load capacity of up to 36 tons. It also led to the production of 8 types of bus: the town, suburban, intercity and tourism versions.
In the 1970s DAC shared the same construction platforms with the Roman trucks but it was not part of the 1971 venture between the then-West German company MAN and the Romanian government. Since 1990 DAC has been the special trucks division of Roman trucks.
In 1976 INMT produced the new V8 360 hp (268 kW) engine in cooperation with the Austrian company ANL. After 1989 the Braşov plant started to update the cabin and use Caterpillar diesel engines.
In 1999 Roman trucks took 2nd and 3rd places in 'Rallye of Tounis'. As of 2000 almost 750,000 trucks had been produced.
Since 2002, the heavy truck range has had a new reshaped cabin, called Millennium.
As of December 2005, Roman also produces military truck equipments for Iraqi military forces.
