Renault invests further €100 million in Dacia’s Romanian factory

The four-door Logan saloon, Europe’s first €5,000 car, has been a runaway global success since its launch in 2004, so to keep up with demand for both this and the recently launched estate version in European and emerging markets, the factory is to be significantly expanded with a €100 million investment.

On 18 December 2006, Dacia will start work at its Pitesti plant to boost output from the current 235,000 vehicles a year to 350,000 in 2008. This work will enable the plant to increase its stamping output, introduce a new paint shop and enlarge the bodywork and assembly shops.

The Pitesti plant which currently manufactures Logan saloon and the new Logan estate, will start producing the third model in the Logan programme, a light commercial vehicle, in early-2007. The plant constructed the last example of its previous light commercial vehicle, a pick-up based on the Renault 12 last week.

Plant output will be adapted temporarily owing to the work, with an eight-day pause in Logan saloon production at the end-of-the-year period.

From early February 2007, Logan estate output will be increased from 250 to 300 units per day in order to reduce delivery times, currently averaging two months.

The Logan range is an integral part of Renault Group’s ambitious international growth plans within Renault Commitment 2009, with the saloon already built outside Romania in Columbia, Morocco and Russia, with production due to start in Brazil, India and Iran next year.