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The car was the champ of the German Abwrackprämien-mania of 2009: Retire your clunker, collect €2000, and for just €5000 of pocket-change, you get a real car with a real trunk and 4 doors: The Dacia Logan. The car, built in Renault’s Romanian subsidiary sold more than 150,000 units ion Germany since its introduction. It drove car executives bonkers, and engineers to their workstations to design low-cost cars. Now, it’s being pulled off the market. The reason?
No buyers, says Das Autohaus. With the end of the German cash-for-clunkers program, demand for the low-cost car evaporated. Renault-Dacia is no longer selling the Logan in Germany. Instead, they will focus on the Sandero hatchback and the Duster SUV.
20 Comments on “Auf Wiedersehen, Dacia Logan...”
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I think the low-cost car (>$10K) could work here. VW, Nissan, and other automakers planning such Nano-fighters for emerging markets should open a plant in the South and start offering Americans, more than 10% of whom have no jobs, an cheaper automotive option.
It already exists, it is called a “good” used car…
If one doesn’t have a job, one has no business buying new….
@Robert
“If one doesn’t have a job, one has no business buying new…,”
My take on the comment when he said to build them in the South was to build them here and give those without jobs a job and by extension the ability to purchase new.
As to whether or not that would work is another question.
+1. Financing stuff to people who could’t afford it in the first place is how we all got into this mess.
It’s awfully hard to build a competitively-priced low-cost car when American labor rates are still 10 times higher than in China or India.
Then build them in Mexico.
We may have to pay more for our cars due to labour costs and your friendly UAW, but we also earn more in order to do so. Not sure on the actual numbers, (might be neat to see a chart on that, TTAC), but if they were too far out of whack no one would be buying any cars at all.
Please, please… PLEASE– no more charts or number analysis.
They still offer the Logan MCV (station wagon), starting at 7,990 Euros, with 87 and 105 hp petrol engines and a 86 hp diesel engine.
Without having statistics at hand, I think sedan sales in Germany are generally declining. People seem to prefer hatches and station wagons (or CUVs, SUVs) over sedans here. So, Dacia did the right thing, I presume.
I’m going to guess that people who would normally purchase a used car were using the credit on the Dacia Logan because they could only get the credit on a new car purchase. Now that the clunkers program is gone, buyers that normally would purchase used have reverted to buying used VW’s, Opel’s, or whatever.
I’m not sure if used cars in Europe are as good of a deal as in USA. Between taxes and annual emission and technical inspections it moght be wiser to just buy new. I know for sure this is the case currently in Japan and was the case in Netherlands, Belgium, etc. before EU.
Anyone with more current knowledge?
Rumanian? Is your spellchecker straight from the 1930s?
I’m actually curious if a similar trend will see the Logan being phased out altogether, even in Romania… Of course, a cheap car is crucial in the market, but I wonder if this represents a move away from sedans in general.
I still use WordStar, on CP/M. I know I should switch over to that Windows thing, but old habits and stuff … So it’s Romania? Alright …
Bertel,
Did you spring for the SpellStar option?
I used WordStar many years ago, on MS-DOS 6. Still remember some of the commands.
Renault may have also had a profitability problem with selling the Logan at that price in Germany. Sometimes “making it up on volume” doesn’t pan out.
I didn’t think Western Europe was the car’s primary market anyway; sales there were just gravy on top of the Eastern Europe, Middle East, African and South American markets for which the car was designed.
The only constant out there is that nothing is constant. Welcome to the evolving automotive market. Logan is getting old and needs a replacement. Maybe a crossover?
@Bertel: c’mon Bertel you know it’s Romania. Right?
@ ott: When Renault took over Dacia in Romania completely after the revolution they paid wages so low that they didn’t need to invest in automation. This was a blessing for Renault (saving money) and for the Romanians involved (no need to starve anymore) and for the rest of Europe (finally, I can afford a new car).
But as Bertel pointed out: “It drove car executives bonkers, and engineers to their workstations to design low-cost cars.”
And that’s why I’m glad to Renault’s approach.
@ ttacfan: There is not one Europe. Each and every country has its own means to tax the devil out of those evil car drivers. Similar to pensioners, barbers, and butchers they are registered, can’t go away and are an easy prey for those living on them. For the prices, check your favorite used car have a look at, e.g., http://www.mobile.de/home/index.html?lang=en,
can’t you replicate the feeling of this car by driving the Nissan Versa?
for only $9,999