The Logan was the first (and sadly the only) product that came from the Mahindra-Renault Partnership. The Logan is a very successful B segment sedan in the some European markets and was brought to India with the hope that it would act as a cornerstone in the M&M-Renault partnership.
Unfortunately, the JV did not work out and Renault decided that it wants to part ways with Mahindra. As a result, there was a lot of uncertainty looming over the future of Logan.
But last year, M&M purchased all rights for producing the Logan in India and decided to enter in the sedan market alone for the first time.
On April 26th, Mahindra re-badged the Logan to Verito, gave it some cosmetic changes and launched it at a price point of Rs 4.82 – 5.62 lakh. We really didn’t expect much from the Verito but boy were we wrong. Since April, the stagnated sales numbers of the Verito have suddenly got a boost. Shown above are the sales figures of the Logan/Verito since February 2011.
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Renault India would continue to supply engines to its erstwhile partner Mahindra & Mahindra for the Logan even after the two companies snapping up ties with each other. Mahindra had acquired exclusive rights for the Logan from Renault and would be selling the Logan without the Renault badge hereafter, but Renault would be receiving a royalty for every Logan sold.
Ashish Sinha Roy, VP (Communications & Corporate Affairs), Renault India -
We have already said earlier that we will be setting up a full-fledged powertrain unit at its facility in Chennai with Nissan. Once our engine plant goes on stream, we will locally supply the engines and transmissions for the Logan sedan. This will obviously bring down the cost of the Logan substantially and make it more competitive, as the engine and transmission unit accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total cost of the car.
Renault would be associated with the Logan till the end of 2010, implying that Mahindra wouldn’t re-design/re-engineer until the beginning of 2011 (thank god!). Beginning 2011, Mahindra engineers would begin partying with the Logan platform in their hands.
The Logan could face a slew of changes, possibly a new body-style (probably a sub-4 meter Logan), interiors and engines. Considering Mahindra’s reputation of developing not-so-good-looking cars recently (the Xylo is a case in point) and proudly developing uglier looking cars out of them (the future 5 seater mini-Xylo), what would become of the Logan in the future is a bit scary for us.
The only good news, though, is that Logan would be serviced at Mahindra dealers across the country.
In the market place, the Logan’s sales went up by a meager 5% last month compared to the same month last year, thanks to heavy price-cuts of up to Rs. 80,000.
The Renault Logan is speeding into the book of extinct cars. If Renault does not act fast, the 500 cars a month they are selling now, will turn to 10-15.
The Logan needs a face-lift, which was launched in other countries more than a year back, and a Euro 4 compliant engine to keep it from sharing space with the Dodo bird.
Its charm is lost, nowadays people look at cars like the Dzire and Indigo which can be serviced via a larger and better service network.
The Logan is the sole product in the Renault line-up. The Sandero was supposed to join the Logan under Mahindra, but that is also uncertain as either of the partners have not spoken about it recently.
An announcement is expected by the 2010 Auto Expo in Delhi on the future of Renault in India.
The Dacia/Renualt Sandero, if reports can be trusted, will be manufactured in India next year at the Nashik facility with a 1.2-liter petrol engine. It won’t be a new beginning for Renault as 100,000 of them have been dispatched from production houses around world.
If you want a fast/frightening fact, the Sandero is a fashionable hatchback based on the same platform as the Renault Logan ! Yeah, the Sandero looks like it’ll win the hearts of car buyers looking for something like the Swift or the i20, but the Logan on the other hand looks to have been inspired by a school girl’s pencil box.
The Sandero was completely developed in France and Romania and the first example rolled out of Brazil in December 2007 with a Renault badge. It’s never looked back since then, the production figure touched 100,000 last week and the Romanians had a small celebration in the plant.
The Sandero comes in many engine options- 1.0-liter petrol, 1.4 petrol, 1.5dCi, and 1.6 MPI petrol.
Source – Autokult Poland
The Logan gets a new engine overseas while we are yet to see the facelift in India. The new 1.2 16v engine replaces the 1.4-liter MPI and delivers the power of 75 hp at 5,500 rpm and 107 Nm of torque at 4,250 rpm with a 15% better fuel economy.
Renault, like every other car maker in the Eu comes up with great hot-hatchbacks. Now that it come up with a special edition Logan (im sorry, but how is it special?), lets review all the cars that share the same philosophy and see whether the Logan is good enough to rub shoulders with other magnificent cars that come with the RenaultSport badge. Even the India-bound Sandero has been launched in [ Read More ]
