Dacia Logan

Manufacturer	Dacia
Also called	Renault Logan Nissan Aprio Mahindra Verito Renault Tondar 90 Lada Largus
Production	2004–present
Assembly	Mioveni, Romania São José dos Pinhais, Brazil Envigado, Colombia Nashik, India Tehran, Iran Casablanca, Morocco Moscow, Russia Tolyatti, Russia Pretoria, South Africa
Predecessor	Dacia 1310
Class	Small family car
Body style	4-door sedan 5-door station wagon 5-door van 2-door coupé utility (pick-up)
Layout	Front-engine, front-wheel-drive
Platform	Dacia B0 platform
Engine	1.0 L I4 Hi-Flex 1.2 L I4 (gas/LPG) 1.4 L I4 (gas/LPG) 1.6 L I4 (gas/Hi-Torque) 1.6 L I4 (gas/Hi-Flex) 1.5 L I4 dCi
Transmission	5-speed manual 4-speed automatic
Wheelbase	2,630 mm (103.5 in) (sedan) 2,905 mm (114.4 in) (station wagon & pickup) 2,900 mm (114.2 in) (van)
Length	4,288 mm (168.8 in) (sedan) 4,473 mm (176.1 in) (station wagon) 4,450 mm (175.2 in) (van) 4,496 mm (177.0 in) (pickup)
Width	1,740 mm (68.5 in) (sedan, station wagon & van) 1,735 mm (68.3 in) (pickup)
Height	1,534 mm (60.4 in) (sedan) 1,640 mm (64.6 in) & 1,674 mm (65.9 in) (station wagon & van) 1,554 mm (61.2 in) (pickup)
Curb weight	1,090 kg (2,400 lb) - 1,360 kg (3,000 lb)
Related	Dacia Sandero Dacia Duster Renault Clio III Nissan Tiida Nissan Note Nissan Cube III Nissan Micra K12

The Dacia Logan is a small family car car produced jointly by the French manufacturer Renault and its subsidiary Dacia of Romania. It is manufactured at Dacia's automobile plant in Mioveni, Romania, and in Colombia, Brazil, Russia, Morocco, Iran, India and South Africa. It is also marketed as the Renault Logan, Nissan Aprio, Mahindra Verito or Renault Tondar 90 depending on the existing presence or positioning of the Renault brand.

History[link]

Designed at Renault’s Technocentre near Paris, the Logan was the result of four years of development of Project X90, announced by Renault in 1999 after the buyout of Dacia in 1998.^[1]

During a visit to Russia by French President Jacques Chirac, Louis Schweitzer noted that at Lada and Renault dealerships the €6,000 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."^{[citation needed]} The cheapest version of the car is €5,900, and the price can reach €11,200, 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).

The Logan was designed from the outset as an affordable car, and has many simplified features to keep costs down. It replaces many older cars in production, including the Romanian Dacia 1310 series of Renault 12-based cars.

It was officially launched in September 2004. Renault originally had no plans to sell the Logan in Western Europe, but in June 2005 began importing a more expensive version of the car, starting at around €7,500.^[2] It was an unexpected success with people wanting an inexpensive, no-frills car they could repair themselves.^{[citation needed]}

The Logan was launched in India in April 2007 as a collaboration with Mahindra, who helped Renault cut costs by 15%.^[3] India was the first right-hand drive market for the Logan. It was almost an instant success with impressive sales in the first few months.^[4] Since then Mahindra and Renault have parted ways, but the Logan continues to be sold by Mahindra, with technical support from Renault. Its awkward styling has resulted in lower than expected sales. The company has now introduced the name Verito to the car which now only bears Mahindra badges.^[5]

Facelift[link]

On 1 July 2008, almost four years after the release of the first Logan, a facelifted version called the Dacia New Logan was announced.^[6] The new version features a more modern design and a more attractive and more comfortable interior.^[7]

Features[link]

Dacia Logans waiting to be shipped on the river Danube at the Passau port

The no-frills cockpit of the Logan MCV

The Logan is based on the B platform used by the third generation Renault Clio, Renault Modus and Nissan Micra. It has 50% fewer parts than a high-end Renault vehicle and has a limited number of electronic devices. This makes the car cheaper to produce and easier and cheaper to repair.

Some parts are also much simpler than those of its competitors. For example, rear-view mirrors are symmetrical and can be used on either side 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 compact cars to help it negotiate dirt roads and potholes on ill-maintained asphalt roads. The engine is specially prepared to handle lower quality fuel, whereas the air conditioning is powerful enough to lower the temperature several degrees (temperatures above 40°C are common in the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea).

Safety[link]

In June 2005 the car achieved a 3 star rating at the EuroNCAP crash tests.^[8] This result confirms initial expectations stated earlier by Renault.

Depending on equipment level, standard on some variants and optional on others, Dacia New Logan comes with up to four airbags. In terms of active safety, all versions of New Dacia Logan feature the latest-generation Bosch 8.1 ABS which incorporates EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution) and EBA (Emergency Brake Assist).

Engines[link]

Marketing and production[link]

Renault Logan, manufactured at the São José dos Pinhais factory of Renault Brazil

Nissan Aprio in Mexico

2011 Renault Logan in Colombia

2011 Renault Logan in Ecuador

The Logan, vital to increasing sales of the Renault group to the 4 million mark by 2010, is manufactured in nine production and operational assembly centres: Romanian, the pilot plant of the Logan Programme, Russia (Avtoframos), Morocco (Somaca), Colombia (Sofasa), Iran (two assembly plants), India (Mahindra), Brazil (since 2007),^[11] and South Africa. Located in Romania, near the Mioveni plant, the International Logistics Network, the official name of the CKD centre, is the biggest logistic centre of its kind not only in the Renault Group but in the entire world automotive industry.^[1]

In markets where Renault has a presence, such as European, African and Asian countries (i.e. Romania, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Morocco, Turkey and many others) it is sold as the Dacia Logan.^[12] Exceptions are South Africa, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, Colombia, Ecuador, Israel, Egypt, Brazil, Chile, Perú and Venezuela where it is marketed as the Renault Logan, and furthermore Mexico, where the Logan was sold as the Nissan Aprio, given the better reputation of the Japanese brand in the Mexican market. The Nissan Aprio had a 1.6-litre 16 valve inline-four engine with a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission ^[13] and is assembled in Brazil.^[14]

In India, the Logan was marketed as the Mahindra Renault Logan.^[15] In 2005, Renault partnered the Indian utility and commercial vehicles manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M). Launched in 2007, Logan could not make the mark Template:Clatify in the Indian market, selling just over 44,000 vehicles since then, and over 2,600 vehicles in Nepal and South Africa (M&M also held the licence to sell the Logan in India, Nepal and South Africa.^[16][17] In April 2010 it was announced that the M&M had bought out Renault's 49% in the Mahindra Renault joint venture. The new agreement gave M&M more flexibility in engineering the car to suit the needs of the Indian consumer. The Logan was marketed with the Mahindra-Renault logo until the end of March 2011. Following the dissolution of the Indian joint venture between Renault India and M&M in 2010, Mahindra retained the rights to produce and sell the Logan under its own name of Mahindra Verito with minor alterations to the front but retaining Renault petrol and diesel engines.^[18][19]

In 2007, Logan branded as Renault Tondar 90^[20] begain to be sold in Iran by Renault-Pars Co. manufactured by Pars Khodro and Iran Khodro.^[21] In the first month of production more than 100,000 Tondar 90 had been ordered.^[22] Renault Pars is a joint venture, 51 percent of which belongs to Renault of France. Forty-nine percent of Renault Pars' shares is jointly held by Iran's Industrial Development and Renovation Organization, IKCO and Saipa Group. The company was established in 2003.^[23]

Production began with a 4-door sedan, followed by a wagon in September 2006. Four other models, a pickup truck, a hatchback, a van and a new sedan version followed in 2007 and 2008. Dacia sales for 2006 were over €1.5 billion, 19.6% more than in 2005. Annual production has reached almost 250,000 cars, half for exports. As of March 2009 more than 1.3 million vehicles on the Logan platform have been sold worldwide.^[24] On September 3, 2009, it was announced that one million Dacia cars on Logan platform X90 have been produced at Mioveni plant: 576,887 Logans, 246,869 Logan MCVs, 144,931 Sanderos and Stepways, 19,897 Logan VANs and 11,416 Logan Pick-Ups.^[25]

One of the reasons for the increase in sales is the dependability of Dacia cars. In a recent survey conducted by a French magazine, Dacia cars were voted one of the safest cars in France. Another reason is their low maintenance and repair costs. According to the survey, Dacia cars were the cheapest to maintain and repair.^[27] In Germany, Dacia was placed on the second position in the 2010 Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study released by J. D. Power and Associates in June 2010.^[28]

Models[link]

Logan MCV[link]

Dacia Logan MCV

The Logan MCV (Multi Convivial Vehicle), launched at the 2006 Paris Motor Show, is the station wagon version of the Logan.^[29] It has five or seven seat versions, with a luggage space between 200 and 2350 litres depending on how many seats are folded, and numerous storage spaces for smaller objects.

It uses the same engines as the sedan.^[30] An important improvement is the availability of side airbags. Sales began in October 2006 on the Romanian market with prices ranging between €8,200 and €12,550.^[31] Sales to other countries began in early 2007. A revised version, with the new lights and bumper from the New Logan saloon, was released in late 2008. As of June 2010, Dacia produced 300,000 Logan MCVs.^[32]

At the 2010 Moscow International Motor Show the new Lada Project R90 was presented as a model based on the New Logan MCV.^[33] From 2012, it is produced in Russia by the AvtoVAZ company under the Lada Largus brand name.^[34]

Logan VAN[link]

The van variant of the Logan was launched on January 23, 2007 in Bucharest.^[35] It is a small business oriented vehicle, with 2500 litre loading space and 800 kg payload. The Logan VAN / Express is more or less an MCV without the rear side windows and therefore 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, and now the prices ranging are between €7100 and €9700.

Logan Pick-Up[link]

Dacia Logan Pick-Up

The coupe utility version of the Logan, also based on the MCV, was introduced on September 10, 2007 (October 4, 2007 at SIAB)^[36] and replaced Dacia Pick-Up. Sales have begun in Romania in 2008 and now the prices ranging are between €7300 and €9450.

Starting October 2008 the Logan Pickup is sold in South Africa as Nissan NP200. Visually it resembles a mildly facelifted Logan bakkie and it is being built in South Africa alongside the Renault Sandero.

Concept cars and projects[link]

Dacia Logan Steppe

Logan Steppe[link]

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[link]

The S2000 was a short lived project for a racing version of the Logan.^[37][38]

• Dacia Logan S2000 Test

Dacia Cup[link]

Since 2007, there is a dedicated class in the Romanian Rally Championship, called Cupa Dacia, for Group N adapted Logans. It is a class competed especially by rookies, in the beginning of their careers.^[39] The cars used are 1.6 MPI versions.^[40]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dacia Logan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dacia Logan MCV

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dacia Logan Pick-Up

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Renault Logan

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

External links[link]

• Dacia Logan at Dacia.ro
• New Dacia Logan at Daciagroup.com
• DACIA Logan MCV 1.5 dCI (85 hp) Test drive by Autoevolution.com

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