Carmakers Renault and Nissan signed a letter of intent with the Office for State Interests and Industrial Privatisation (OPSPI) in order to acquire the Daewoo Craiova plant.
The purpose of this takeover is the production of Nissan vehicles at the Oltenia-based factory, according to certain information on the automotive market.
"Renault and Nissan signed a letter of intent (a memorandum of understanding with no strings attached). This letter only shows the interest the Alliance has in obtaining more information of about the Daewoo industrial site in Craiova, to see whether the Alliance will participate in the bidding process that the Romanian authorities will soon launch," the French group''s representatives said.
The reason for the participation of Renault-Nissan in the tender for the acquisition of Daewoo Craiova is, according to certain information on the automotive market, the production of Nissan automobiles. This would allow the factory in Craiova to continue manufacturing cars under another Asian brand, after having made Daewoo branded cars for nine years.
Nissan is one of the few Asian carmakers that does not own any production facilities in the Eastern European countries, as its only European plants are located in England and Spain.
The Japanese group decided, along with its partner in the Renault-Nissan alliance, to invest 215 million euros in a facility in Pitesti that will make gearboxes for the Nissan, Renault and Samsung car brands. The officials of the French group did not care to comment on the possibility of having Nissan cars made in Craiova. They did, however, say, "Renault is considering all the possibilities to expand the production capacity of the Logan programme, especially in Romania."
The French announced bold plans to boost the production of Logans after the successful launch of the model towards the end of last year.
This autumn, the general manager of Dacia and Renault''s head of operations in Eastern Europe, Francois Fourmont, was saying that several teams from the French group had visited the factory in Craiova to assess possibilities.
At that time, Dacia''s plans targeted an output of 235,000 units a year for Logan, set to be reached in 2006. However, the large stretch of land Dacia owns in Pitesti allows for the expansion of the output to 300,000 units a year, by building additional facilities, the officials say.
The plant in Craiova may manufacture under the Daewoo brand until early next January, after the US-based General Motors group extended the licence agreement that was set to expire in October.
Nine years from the start of the manufacturing of Daewoo cars, the factory in Craiova could become the property of the Romania State again next month.
Economy and Trade Minister Codrut Seres recently said that the authorities would sign the contract to take over the shares held by the Korean company. At that time he added that the Ministry had received a letter from the State Assets Resolution Authority''s Korean counterpart, stating that there were no other financial claims made regarding the debts of the former owner of Daewoo Craiova, so that the signing of the contract would be done very quickly, "as soon as the Koreans arrive in Bucharest." ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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