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The 'Logan' is a no-frills car produced jointly by the French manufacturer Renault and its affiliate Dacia of Romania. It is manufactured at Dacia's automobile plant in Mioveni, Romania. Whether the car is marketed as Dacia, Nissan or Renault in a country depends on the existing presence of the Renault brand in it.

Contents

History

Features

Safety

Engines

Marketing and production

Models

Logan MCV

Logan VAN

Concept cars and projects

Logan MCV

Logan S2000

External links

References

History

The Logan was the end result of Project X90, announced by Renault in 1999 after the buyout of Dacia in 1998. During a visit to Russia by French President Jacques Chirac, Louis Schweitzer noted that at Lada and Renault dealerships the 6000€ Ladas were selling very well, while the 12,000€ Renaults stayed in the showroom. "Seeing those antiquated cars, I found it unacceptable that technical progress should stop you making a good car for 6,000€." (He later revised this target to 5,000€). "I also drew up a list of specifications in three words – modern, reliable and affordable – and added that everything else was negotiable." However, the cheapest version of the car is priced at almost 6,000€, and can reach 8,500€, depending on equipment and customs duty (the base model for Western Europe, where it is badged as a Dacia but generally sold in Renault dealerships, is somewhat more expensive). As it was designed from the outset as an affordable car, the Logan has many simplified features to keep costs low.
The car replaces many older cars in production, including the Romanian Dacia 1300 series of Renault 12-based cars.
It was officially launched in 2004. Renault originally had no plans to sell Logan in Western Europe, but began importing a more expensive version of the car in June 2005, starting at around €7000. It became an unexpected success with people wanting an inexpensive, no frills car they could repair themselves. The Logan was launched in India in June 2007 as a collaboration with Mahindra, an established automobile manufacturer with countrywide presence. (India was the first right hand drive market for the Logan,) It was almost an instant success with zooming sales within the first few months.^[1]

Features

The Logan is based on the B platform that is used by the third generation Renault Clio, Renault Modus and the latest version of the Nissan Micra. It has 50% fewer parts than a high-end Renault vehicle and has a limited number of electronic devices. In addition to making the car less costly to produce, this also makes it easier and cheaper to repair. As with many low-cost vehicles, a large amount of soundproofing was omitted, meaning that road vibrations, engine sound and wind noise are noticeable for the passengers.
Some parts are also much simpler than those of its competitors. For example, rear-view mirrors are symmetrical and can be used on either sides of the car, the windshield is flatter than usual, and the dashboard is a single injection-molded piece.
The developers have taken into account several differences between road and climate conditions in developed and developing countries. The Logan suspension is soft and strong, and the chassis sits visibly higher than most other superminis to help it negotiate dirt roads and potholes on ill-maintaned asphalt roads. The engine is specially prepared to handle lower quality fuel, whereas the air conditioning is powerful enough to lower temperature several degrees (above 40ºC are common in the Middle East and Mediterranean Sea).

Safety

In June 2005 the car achieved a 3 star rating at the EuroNCAP crash tests, lower than most other cars of its age. This result confirms initial expectations stated earlier by Renault. The car was equipped with dual frontal airbags, which are optional in many markets. The Logan does not have seatbelt pretensioners.
In July 2005, a "Fahrdynamik-Test" (similar to an elk-test, but not identical) conducted by the German ADAC claimed that the lack of an Electronic Stability Program by Dacia Logan makes it roll over while suddenly turning at 65 km/h. More pictures here. Later that month, the Romanian version of Top Gear repeated the "elk-test" and, according to the results published on their website, the Logan passed the test at speeds of 72 km/h, 84 km/h and 87 km/h. Article in Romanian [1].
However, it should be noted that the test performed by Top Gear was a standard elk-test, while the "Fahrdynamik-Test" performed the by the ADAC was quite different. Top Gear falsely claimed that the test was identical to the one performed by the ADAC.
Later, on September 9, ADAC published the results of further incident investigation, showing that the rollover was actually caused by faulty tires and not by improper car design.
It was later admitted by the German testers that the car failed after an unusually high number of elk tests that had worn down the tires of the test car.

Engines

Name	Capacity (cc)	Type	Power	Torque	Top speed (km/h)	Consumption (liters/100 km)
1.4 MPI	1390	8 valves SOHC	55 kW (75 PS) @5500 rpm	112 Nm @3000rpm	162	6,9
1.6 MPI	1598	8 valves SOHC	64 kW (87 PS) @5500 rpm	128 Nm @3000rpm	175	7,3
1.6 16v	1598	16 valves DOHC	77 kW (105 PS) @5750 rpm	148 Nm @3750rpm	183	7,1
1.5 dCi	1461	8 valves	50 kW (68 PS) @4000rpm	160 Nm @1700rpm	158	4,7
1.5 dCi	1461	8 valves	63 kW (85 PS) @4000rpm	200 Nm @1900rpm	167	4,6

Marketing and production

In markets where Renault has an existing presence, such as European, African and Asian countries (I.E. Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and many others) it is sold as the 'Dacia Logan'.^[2] Exceptions are Argentina, Russia, China, Colombia, Africa, Brazil and Venezuela where it is marketed as the 'Renault Logan'. The Logan is vital to increasing sales of the Renault group to the 4 million mark by 2010. In India, the Logan is marketed under the "Mahindra" brand name; Renault will partner with Indian utility and commercial vehicles manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Limited. In Mexico, the Logan is sold as the 'Nissan Aprio', given the better reputation of the Japanese brand on the Mexican market.
The car is for sale in developing countries where the population has a lower purchasing power than in developed countries.
In 2007, Iran also began selling Logan models by Renault-Pars Co. manufactured in Pars Khodro and Iran Khodro [2]. After a mere month of production, more than 100,000 Tondar-90, as it's called there, have been ordered, even though deliveries will start only in May 2007 [3].
Dacia have plans to produce CKD versions for assembly in various target markets.

	2004	2005	2006
Car production (units)	28,592	150,433	196,708

Since the beginning of production in 2004 and up to the end of 2006, a total of 321,284 Dacia Logans were sold.[4].
Dacia sales for 2006 were over €1.5 billion, 19.6% up in comparison with 2005. Annual production have almost reached 200,000 cars, half for exports.
Production began with a 4-door sedan, followed by a wagon in September 2006. Four other models, including a pickup truck and hatchback are to follow, starting in 2007 with a light commercial model.
The factory is unusual for a volume manufacturer in that it uses no robots. The low wages in Romania mean that the car would actually become more expensive if they were to switch to using robots. The factory employs 12,532 workers at an average salary of €360 a month. [5].

Models

Logan MCV

The Logan MCV (''Multi Convivial Vehicle''), launched at the 2006 Paris Motor Show, is the station wagon version of the Logan [6]. It has five or seven seat versions, with a luggage space that varies between 200 and 2350 litres depending on how many seats are folded, as well as numerous storage spaces for smaller objects.
It uses the same engines as the sedan version [7]. An important improvement is the availability of side airbags.
Sales began in October 2006 on the Romanian market with prices ranging between €8200 and €11600. [8], and will extend to other countries in early 2007.

Logan VAN

The business version of the Logan was launched on January 23 2007 in Bucharest [9].
It is a small business orientated vehicle, with 2500 litre loading space and 800 kg payload. The Logan VAN is more or less a MCV without the windows and therefor has the same safety features and uses the same engines as the other models (except the 1.6 16v engine). Sales have started in Romania, with prices ranging between €6700 and €8800.

Concept cars and projects

Logan MCV

In 2006, a station wagon concept car, the 'Dacia Logan Steppe' was presented at the Salon International de l'Auto in Geneva. The car was built by noted concept car builders DC Design in India as a forerunner of the Logan MCV.

Logan S2000

The S2000 was a short lived project for a racing version of the Logan [10],[11].

★ Dacia Logan S2000 Test

External links

★ Dacia Romania

★ Dacia: Logan

★ Dacia brand worldwide

★ Dacia Morocco Website

★ Renault Maroc

★ Nissan Aprio in Mexico

★ Dacia Ukraine

★ Blog del Renault Logan

★ Renault Logan in Colombia

★ Hungarian Dacia Logan Club - The latest information about Dacia Logan

★ The largest community of new and used Dacia Logan car owners in Austria, Germany und Switzerland

★ AutoBild crash test comparison with older VW Golf MK IV

★ [12]

★ Renault expanding its Russia plant to build 160,000 Logans a year

★ English website about the Logan and the MCV

★ Foro oficial de Dacia en España

References

1. EU-inträde ger extra fart åt rumänsk bil
2. Distribution of Dacia throughout the world


★ James Ruppert. Not for U.S. Sale: 2005 Dacia Logan. ''AutoWeek'', January 31, 2005.

★ Gail Edmondson and Constance Faivre. Got 5,000 Euros? Need A New Car? ''BusinessWeek'', July 4, 2005.

★ Bucharest Daily News [13]

★ Molly Moor. France's Renault Takes a Detour. ''The Washington Post'', January 26, 2006.

★ http://www.renault.co.ir/?lang=fa&page=01