Logan will come to account for half of the sales growth expected by French group Renault over the next four years, with 800,000 units by 2009.
“By 2009, we will launch 26 new models, of which five will be based on the Logan platform,” said the chairman of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, one of the most powerful executives in the automobile industry.
Half of the sales growth will come from sales of the various Logan versions.
“Beside the current four-door variant, this year will see the launch of the 5 or 7-seat station wagon and a van version. These models will start being manufactured at our Pitesti-based plant, late in the year, most likely in October-November. There will be other versions as well, so that Logan will come to account for half of the projected increase of Renault sales,” says Luc Alexandre Menard, chairman of Dacia Pitesti Management Board.
Starting this month, Menard will coordinate the entire activity of Renault in the Euromed region, including countries from Eastern Europe, the Community of Independent States, Turkey, North Africa and Israel. The plant of Pitesti is one of the French manufacturer”s key-points in terms of profit, too, with Carlos Ghosn having the reputation of a profit-mindful manager.
“Last year, Renault”s operating income was almost 800 million euros lower, down to 1.3 billion euros, amid the weak evolution of the European market and falling prices. Still, the international unit, including Romanian-based Dacia and Korea”s Samsung brought an operating income increase worth 214 million euros against 2004,” says Ghosn.
Dacia broke even in 2005, for the first time since Renault”s becoming its shareholder. “I cannot say more about profits, at least until we present our reports to the general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for the end of this month, but I can say that Dacia is supposed to exceed the group”s average profitability level,” Menard added.
Dacia last year reported turnover worth around 1.2 billion euros.
Carlos Ghosn has recently announced a series of engineering operations will be relocated as close to Romanian production facilities as possible.
Ghosn is known as a “cost killer”, after he succeeded, in five years, in turning Japanese producer Nissan from a company on the verge of bankruptcy into the world”s most profitable carmaker in terms of the operating margin. Ghosn has set out to do the same with Renault.
“We will achieve a 14% acquisition cost cut and a 12% production cost reduction over the next three years, inclusively by moving some engineering activities as close to the Romanian production facilities as possible,” Carlos Ghosn said in Paris, where he showcased Renault”s policy until 2009.