After Lodgy, Dacia will launch a new commercial vehicle, called van until the debut. The Dacia officials said that the new model will debut in Romania after the summer holidays, which means that we can expect a debut in the Paris Motor Show in September, followed by a launch on the market by the end of the year. Regarding the production of the new model, the use of Pitesti factory is unlikely until the exit of the Logan Van. Thomas Duburuel refused to comment on this transition, saying that the Logan VAN model is currently in production.

The characteristics of the new commercial model are also a mystery, the only statement that the Dacia officials give about the new vehicle being: "it will meet the demands of our fleet customers", customers that are very important to Dacia.

Most likely, the new commercial vehicle will receive the front from a new Dacia model, along with a number of common components. The most likely hypothesis suggests that the new Dacia commercial vehicle will take the front of the Lodgy and will have dimensions close to it, like the other models from the Dacia range, the Logan and the Logan MCV. The launch of Logan’s successor has not been confirmed by the officials of the Romanian brand, a sign that the Logan 2 debut could take place in 2013, at the Geneva Motor Show.

The new colors of the Dacia range will be available around the Paris Motor Show, so the fans will have to wait until late September 2012 to see new Dacia shades. The Renault officials said, the designers and the marketing specialists will take into account "all the missing colors in the range", with several interesting options for every market.

"The introduction of new colors is a very important step, since the preferences in this matter differ from one country to another. For example, if in Germany the yellow cars are very popular, in Spain is very hard to sell this color," said Norman.

Now, Dacia offers cold colors of the spectrum or non-colors. There are however two interesting shades of red – "Rouge de Feu" and "Rouge Passion", and the Logan range includes a non-metallic shade of yellow "Jaune Turnesol".

The first experiments of Dacia regarding the online sales will take place in 2012. The Renault officials did not specify exactly the beginning of the program and what Dacia models will be involved. Also, the first countries to be involved in this marketing strategy remain a mystery.

"I always assumed that Dacia will not be bothered for four or five years, at most, before the rivals will become stronger. I knew I could not keep this market segment only for  us" said Gerard Detourbet , the head of low cost division.

In 2010, a quarter of Renault deliveries were Dacia models. In 2007, Dacia deliveries accounted for only 15% of Renault deliveries, so the Romanian brand has grown significantly in just three years.

Source: automotive news

According to a French official, the Moroccan factory will be able to produce a total of 350,000 cars a year in the next period. The large number of units will be justified by the introduction of two new Dacia models in 2012.

Sources within the French manufacturer said that the Dacia range will be enriched with a small family model and a commercial vehicle. The future Dacia commercial model will be slightly higher than the current Renault Kangoo. Both models will be built on the current Logan platform, and they will be produced at the Tangier factory in Morocco.

Detourbet Gerard, the vice president of the entry-level programs at Renault, said that the two factories, in Pitesti and in Tangier, will have a production capacity between 350,000 and 360,000 units. "Given that the Mioveni factory is working at full capacity, we wondered if we should expand in Romania or we must seek other factories. So we have chosen the Tangier factory" said Detourbet.

Renault has released this week an investment program for several points of production, 3/5 of a total of 5.7 billion euros that will go towards extending more factories outside Europe until 2013.

"The next Dacia model will be an exceptional one by the fact that you can not even imagine the shape. It will be launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012. Then you will see a widening of the range. What we prepare, aside from marketing campaigns, is a slightly larger range of models because more customers understand the benefits of this brand" said Norman.

Asked about the potential "cannibalism" that might affect the ranges of Renault and Dacia (Clio-Sandero and Duster-Koleos), Stephen Norman ruled out such an idea, arguing that both Dacia and Renault brands increased their market share in 2010 in common markets.

"Dacia exploded, Renault has progressed. There is not a region in the world on which Renault did not progress in 2010. In addition, the collaboration between Dacia and Renault is studied by all companies in the world as a successful model" concludes Norman.

Dacia was able to obtain a growth rate of over 10% for the sixth consecutive year, a performance that has doubled the volume of international sales in the 2005-2010 period. The fleets began to turn again to Dacia in 2010, marking a record level of sales to fleets – almost 4,000 units. The large companies were the customers who bought hundred of Dacia units and the models who were preferred were Sandero 1.2 with 16v or Logan. Duster was purchased by several companies, but in numbers so large that the other small models.

The year 2010 was marked positive by the release of Duster. The SUV has become the leader in its segment in Romania, although it started in mid-year. In Romania, Duster sold 4826 units, while the international market has scored more than 100,000 orders (not all been delivered yet) until 31 December 2010. Over 90% of customers opted for the top version of Duster.

Top 10 export destinations in 2010

The sales volume made the Dacia brand to reach a market share of 4.6%. The increase over the previous year was by 70.9%, the 104,642 cars sold in France by the Pitesti car manufacturer during the January-December 2010 representing a result much higher than in 2009 when only 61,217 cars were sold in France.

It is very interesting that the number of cars sold by Dacia in France exceeds the number of all cars sold in Romania in 2010. Thus, while Dacia has sold 100,000 cars only in France, in Romania were registered 100,000 cars in 2010.

In 2009, Dacia was able to produce 311.000 cars, and in 2008, the number of vehicles manufactured in Pitesti was 254.919. The vice president of Dacia also said the the Romanian car manufacturer will register in 2010 the best performance in terms exported cars. Since the beginning of the year to October, Dacia has managed to sell 238.273 vehicles abroad, an amount approximately equal to the number of cars exported in 2009 (242.688).

"The maximum production capacity of Dacia factory in Pitesti is 350.000 assembled cars, which will be achieved in the future. In addition Dacia is producing collections of CKD (Complete Knock Down), which are assembled in India and Russia. In 2015 we will have a production of about 200.000 cars in equivalent of CKD " said Constantin Stroe.

"These new models will inaugurate a new stage in terms of design, and their prices will be lowered than ever" said Alain Launay, the director of the Renault design center opened in Bucharest two years ago. The three models will be launched from 2012 in the European Union.

Regarding the situation between the image of the Dacia brand to the Renault brand, the technical center officials in Romania give us new details about development in the future. Thus, according to Gerard Detourbet statements, Dacia will remain a manufacturer that will provide basic models, while the models developed by Renault will be increasingly sophisticated.

Another issue touched by the French journalists is the reliability of Dacia models that are situated in the first positions in the charts in Europe. "Most cars today have defects in the home electronic systems complexity. The Dacia models use electronic systems that were developed based on five to ten years ago, so they are obviously much more reliable than the last generation of cars" said Benoit Abadie, the deputy director of the Technology Center that opened this year Renault in Romania.
"The costs of production for Dacia model assembled in Pitesti is below 2,000 euros the same model manufactured in France" – Le Figaro.