In order to make room for the assembly of additional Duster SUVs, Renault is shifting part of the Dacia Logan MCV production from Mioveni, Romania, to Tangier, Morocco.
The initial announcement was made by the Tangier plant director, Jean-Francois Gal, who was cited by French magazine UsineNouvelle, on Wednesday, saying: “We will take over the production of this model (Logan MCV) currently made in Romania beginning in the first quarter of 2017.“
Subsequently, according to Reuters, Renault spokeswoman Celine Furet explained that only a part of the production of the Logan estate, which accounted for roughly 40,000 cars last year, or about 10 percent of the total Logan production, will move to Northern Africa.
Furet’s statement is backed up by a short press release, published by the Romanian automaker hours later, which stated that the Mioveni plant’s employees will not be affected by this move and the facility will not produce less cars once the affordable wagon partially moves to Morocco, as more units of the Duster will be put together instead.
The exact number of Logan MCVs that will be assembled in Tangier has yet to be made public, but it seems that the factory, which is currently manufacturing the Sandero, Lodgy and Dokker, will receive a €20 million ($22 million) injection before welcoming the estate.
Another plausible scenario for Renault’s move, one that is being highly speculated by the Romanian media these days, is the lack of a proper infrastructure to move cars assembled in Mioveni to export markets.
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