In 1938, Astra began manufacturing weapons, which fueled company growth, and in 1940 was renamed to the Astra Romanian Wagon, Motor, Armaments, and Munitions Factory, under which name they contributed to the Romanian war effort in World War II.

After WWII and the establishment of the People's Republic, Astra was nationalized, named (in the spirit of the communist days) "The Red Flag" - "Steagul Roșu" (SR), and began to produce trucks.

In 1958, the company decided to produce a new type, as the SR-101 no longer complied with international vehicle standards.

It also led to the production (at the Autobuzul Works, in Bucharest) of eight types of buses: the town, suburban, intercity and tourism versions.

[6] They were briefly produced with help from Romanian engineer and businessman Dorian Igescu, founder of El Car.

The main football club in the city of Brașov, which shares its history with the trucks manufacturer, used a ROMAN 17.360 coach.

[10] At the beginning of 2017 a contract worth 12 million euro was signed to produce 100 vehicles and ship them to Taiwan.