Renault & Dacia - Brazil & Russia

Renault is counting on low-cost Dacia models like the Duster to to help it conquer fast-growing emerging markets like Brazil and Russia.

Boulogne-Billancourt: Renault SA will eventually be able to produce 350,000 low-cost vehicles per year at the plant it is building in Tangiers, in Morocco, an executive at the French carmaker said on Thursday.

Renault is counting on its low-cost Dacia range to help it conquer fast-growing emerging markets like Brazil and Russia, as it seeks to boost international growth and cut dependence on stagnating European demand.

Renault plans next year to add two more vehicles to the low-cost, or entry level, Dacia range, currently made up of the Logan sedan and station wagon, the subcompact Sandero and the highly-successful new Duster SUV.

A new family minivan and a light commercial vehicle slightly larger than a Renault Kangoo van, both based on the Logan platform and built at the Tangiers site, will complete the Dacia range.

Romanian plant at maximum output

"The maximum capacity for Renault's two lines will be 350,000-360,000, like Pitesti," Gerard Detourbet, vice president for Renault's entry-level program, told Reuters, referring to the home base of Dacia, its Romanian subsidiary.

"With Pitesti operating at the maximum level, we asked ourselves, should we boost our capacity in Romania or elsewhere? That's how Tangiers came about," he said.

Renault on Wednesday set out new production plans, steering three-fifths of a total of 5.7 billion euros ($7.89 billion) to be invested in industrial sites by 2013 to foreign markets as it seeks to cut its dependency on Europe.

The carmaker's new strategic plan, which is due to be presented on Feb. 10, will be split into two three-year tranches, Detourbet added.

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