Renault COO Patrick Pelata and Renault Latin-American manager Denis Barbier have announced that Colombian assembler Sofasa, with a facility in Medellín, about 400km north of Colombian capital Bogota, will build a new vehicle.
The Dacia Duster will be assembled following a EUR20m investment and development of suppliers. Local parts content, under government rules, should be at least 25%.
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The Duster will be sold in Colombia and exported to Andean countries, México, central America and the Caribbean region. Almost 20 years ago, Colombia signed a free trade agreement with México which allows tariff-free auto trade.
The investments will increase capacity from 25,000 to 45.000 units and boost exports from 6.000 to 22.000. Sofasa-Renault was one of the biggest car exporters before Venezuela closed its market to Colombian products.
Renault has over 4.300 vehicles in Colombia in the first two months of 2010 and is second placed brand with 16% market share. It also just announced the launch of the Master commercial vehicle, assembled in Brazil.
