With the new Sandero hatchback, Renault has shown how far it can stretch the X90 Logan platform. But programme chief Gerard Detourbet is already looking beyond the current model. Mark Bursa reports.
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Renault sprang a surprise on the eve of the Frankfurt Show with the unveiling of Sandero, the fifth car to be built on Renault’s X90 world car platform, alongside the fourth, a pick-up version of the Logan.
Sandero is a five-door hatchback, smaller and more stylish than the Logan. Logan’s boxy looks and basic headlamps have been replaced by a Clio-style “face” – indeed, Renault vice-president of design Patrick Le Quement said no body panels were shared between Logan and Sandero. “Logan was designed around the van body,” he said, “which accounts for the upright tumblehome of the body. We’ve changed that on the Sandero, so it looks less boxy.”
Both vehicles are aimed at a market that has yet to feel the full force of the low-cost Renault range – Latin America. In Brazil, small hatchbacks running on ethanol rule the roost, and that’s where Sandero is aimed. Renault’s Brazilian engineering centre had a major input, gauging local needs. It will be sold throughout South America and will be exported to Europe, to be sold as a Dacia, from late 2008.
It will be built at Renault’s Curitiba plant in Brazil from December 2007, said Gerard Deourbet, vice-president in charge of the X90 programme. “In Brazil we have big capacity that we don’t use today – 200,000 from 2008 when Sandero comes on line,” he said. Currently Renault is just starting Logan production at Curitiba – output is currently at 80 cars a day in the ramp-up phase. A second shift will start soon, with a third shift scheduled to kick in next March.
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By GlobalDataOnly one of the Logan derivatives outlined by Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn last year has yet to be revealed. Detourbet said this would be “a kind of crossover – that will be the sixth body”. This is expected to be a form of estate/hatchback Logan, possibly with a 4×4 option – we’ll see it next year.
But Detourbet thinks Ghosn has “made a mistake” in stating there will only be six X90 bodies. “After that it’s not finished for us – the story is just beginning. I think that six is not enough,” he said. “We want to develop more bodies on the same platform.”
Logan is not just a car programme – it’s also a programme to develop new plants and new territories around the world. “We have to manage two kinds of programmes – create new cars and adapt them to each country, and secondly to develop new territories, new plants and new alliances,” Detourbet says. This year plants have opened in India, with Mahindra and Mahindra, and Iran with two local producers, Saipa and Iran Khodro.
“We have spent a lot of money this year in Morocco, India, Russia – and most importantly Romania. We are just starting to increase capacity from 35 units per hour to 60, and the production rate at the end of 2008 will be 400,000 cars a year. And in Russia we have decided to increase production from 80,000 to 160,000 by the end of 2009,” Detourbet said.
Indeed, X90 accounts for very large percentage of the 800,000 extra units a year that Ghosn has demanded that Renault produce as part of the Commitment 2009 turnaround plan. By the end of 2009, X90 family production will hit 1 million units a year.
Beyond then, Renault will look to take the project to China – but not before then. “The China market entry decision is not possible until Commitment 2009 is completed,” says Detourbet. But after then, China is likely to be included in any future “Commitment” that Ghosn defines.
In any case, Detourbet believes the current Logan is not the right car for China. “With Logan we have a problem in China – I’m not sure Logan today matches with the market. The market trend is for SUVs and bigger sedans with more inside equipment. Logan is not big enough and not well equipped enough for China. So the Logan of today is probably not the car we’ll introduce in China – the next evolution of Logan is the car.”
Also, he points out that Logan was born in 2004, which would make it five years old even if a China market entry were started in 2009, which would be earliest start-up if a decision were taken today. “We cannot start production with a five-year old car. So clearly we have to start with a new car and a new body,” Detourbet says. “I think the product to be produced in China are not what we saw, [at Frankfurt] but just after.”
“Also, the Renault brand is not known in China. In a lot of countries, the work of Logan is to create awareness for Renault. In China it is the contrary. We need to create the brand with a more sophisticated car – and when we are known we can introduce cheaper cars in order to try and touch the biggest part of the market.” So it’s possible that SUVs or large sedans under development at Renault Samsung in Korea could become the market entry models for China.
The China manufacturing solution could be with Nissan or could be in a new venture, Detourbet said. “The Nissan plant is totally full – Nissan in increasing capacity but that is accounted for. Clearly we have a lack of capacity in China.”
Meanwhile, Logan and its siblings will gain some new threats ion the coming years. Fiat will unveil a replacement for the Palio/Siena range next year – though Detourbet believes the fact that Fiat is not present in a number of key markets, notably Russia and Iran, will limit its ability to compete.
But a bigger threat is on the way. “The real competitor to Logan will appear with the Toyota world car project. This is clearly not trying to beat Logan in one country – it is trying to bean Logan everywhere in the world.” Renault’s fightback will be a new Logan, expected shortly after the Toyota arrives in 2010. “By 2011-12 Logan will be 7-8 years old, so we have to manage the replacement of the X90 programme . The competition is not for tomorrow – for just after.”
The philosophy for the next Logan is “cheap, bigger, better and with more design”. In tandem with that, the cost of production is coming down. “Each day we are producing Logan cheaper. We have greater economies of scale; plus we are now able to buy parts in India. Each day we are working to reduce costs – that’s a lot.”
Mark ‘Coolbear’ Bursa
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