During an announcement of a second round of new investments, to follow immediately after the expansion of its São José dos Pinhais, Paraná state plant is completed, Renault-Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn said the time to invest in new products and increase the Renault model range in Brazil had come.
BRL500m/US$222m will be allocated to produce two new models, though Ghosn did not detail them. One, a pick-up version of the Duster compact SUV, has already been confirmed by the Brazilian subsidiary. That it would be produced here was already the subject of speculation when the Logan pick-up truck was introduced in Europe.
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That would not be a suitable model for Brazil, though, because Peugeot has found it hard to sell the [207 hatchback-based] Hoggar pick-up. But with the Fiat Strada rival sustaining a hefty sales performance (it ranks amongst the country’s top five), Renault now feels the moment has arrived to launch its own version in Brazil.
After all, albeit for just one month (in late March), the Fiat pick-up, and this is unprecedented, led the Brazilian market thanks to the new double-cab version with passenger-side rear side door. The Duster pick-up likely will also be a double-cab but with only two doors, launched early in 2015.
Local Renault officials are reluctant to confirm the Captur compact SUV as the second model, with sales of French-made full imports starting late this year after it makes its Brazil debut at the São Paulo auto show this October. However, local production is not planned until 2016 so to admit to that this early potentially risks sales of the earlier arriving (and more expensive) France-made units.
