Mahinda Renault to Lower Logan Production Due to Low Sales

Dacia's Logan, a successful model generally sold around the world as rebadged Renaults, is losing ground in India, a market where it is currently manufactured by Mahindra Renault. Sales of the budget-minded model got reduced in the last months and, as a result, Renault's Indian joint venture will adjust production to cope with decreasing demand.

Renault's partnership with Mahindra had a capacity of 50,000 units per year but monthly figures decreased every month in late 2009. The two companies are now looking into ways to reorganize the purchase, sales and engineering departments to cope with lower demand, Reuters noted in a report.

"Initially, the organization was designed for far higher volumes of the Logan but everything has been trimmed now to the level that can manage 500 units per month," Pawan Goenka, Mahindra's automotive sector president, told the Hindu Business Line.

On the other hand, the Logan is becoming more attractive in different sides of the market. For instance, it become Russia's best-selling model in November, managing to overtake Ford Focus in the top-selling foreign car chart in the country.

At this time, Renault is manufacturing Logans for the Russian market at its production facility in Moscow and, thanks to this encouraging figures, the French manufacturer intends to expand production at the facility to 160,000 units this year. As a result, the production lines will also accommodate the Sandero, Dacia's low-cost hatchback, and will also prepare for assembling the Duster, the recently-presented SUV, due to be sold locally in 2010 and 2011.