French carmaker Renault has dissipated the mystery surrounding the launch of its most ambitious project since buying the main stake in Dacia - the 5,000-euro automobile.
Logan, for this is the commercial name of the new model, was officially introduced to the public at noon yesterday, at Renault's design centre Technocentre, and at Romania's Parliament Palace last night.
"This is the impossible automobile, which, by year 2010, will have sold 700,000 units, close to the performance of the Renault Megane model," said Louis Schweitzer, chairman of French group Renault. According to Schweitzer, the projected sales could always grow, since the production and assembling facilities outside Romania may expand.
"We shall manufacture 200,000 cars in Romania and 150,000 of collections that will be exported, to be assembled in other countries. There will be another five production centres across the world, and we have already contracted four out of the five locations," Schweitzer mentioned.
Thus, 60,000 cars will be made starting mid-2005 in Russia, 30,00 will be assembled in Morocco, 16,000 in Columbia, with the rest of 300,000 to be made in Iran.
"We have a greater project in mind for China, which will also include the Dacia brand," Louis Schweitzer stated. However, Logan will not be sold only under the Dacia logo.
"We have decided that, in Central Europe, Turkey, Maghreb, and in the Middle East, the model will be sold under the Dacia name, whereas on other markets, such as Iran, Russia and Columbia, where Renault only has a limited scope, Logan will spearhead the expansion of the Renault brand," Schweitzer said.
Under the circumstances, more than half of the Logan models will bear the Renault, not the Dacia logo, whereas those vehicles that will be sold under the Dacia brand will also be inscribed with the "by Renault" expression.
The Logan will originally start being sold on the Romanian market, where its price will range between 5,000 and 8,000 euros. For the beginning, Romanians will be able to choose between two gasoline engines: 1.4l and 75 hp, on the one hand, and 1.6l and 90 hp, on the other. The 1.5l diesel engine will be introduced next year, with the natural gas option to come in 2006.
The challenge of the 5,000-euro car goes back to the mid-'90s, but Renault officially announced the project in 1998, and bought the main stake in Romanian carmaker Dacia one year later.
"It is hard to estimate the costs of the X90 project. We made industrial investments worth 100m euros at Dacia in the first stage. Then, we made other specific investments for this project, worth 200 million euros. Also, the entry ticket to this project was of 200 million euros and we shall invest more money in those locations where the new models will be made and assembled. For instance, I think we will invest 300 million euros in Iran," Schweitzer maintained.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
