Mahindra-Renault commission Logan manufacturing plant

A day after the launch of its mid-sized sedan Logan, Mahindra-Renault, a 51:49 joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and French carmaker Renault, today commissioned its Logan manufacturing plant, adjacent to its state-of-the-art facility in Nashik, which manufactures Scorpio and Bolero.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh inaugurated the commercial rollout of the Logan in the presence of Anand Mahindra, M&M vice-chairman & MD, and Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO, Renault.

The total investment in the project is around Rs 700 crore.

The plant has a manufacturing capacity of 50,000 vehicles per annum. Renault, in partnership with M&M, has developed the right hand drive (RHD) version of Logan to meet the needs of Indian and other RHD markets. Logan will be marketed under the brand Mahindra-Renault.

M&M will use its dealer network to distribute the car in India.

The price for the petrol version of Logan is between Rs 4.28 lakh and Rs 5.69 lakh, while the diesel version is priced between Rs 5.47 lakh and Rs 6.44 lakh.

Presently, almost half the components of the Logan are being imported from Europe, while it is sourcing the rest of the parts from 35 vendors across India, including 10 from Nashik.

Lear Corporation, JBM Auto, Sharda Motors and Reliable group are among the major vendors of Mahindra-Renault in Nashik belt. The company is planning to increase the localised contents from 50 per cent to 60 per cent shortly.

With the launch of the Logan, M&M has, for the first time, entered into the passenger car segment. India is a key market for Renault both in case of 'Renault Commitment 2009', which has set a sales target of 8 lakh additional new cars worldwide by 2009, and beyond that date for further international growth, a significant share of which is expected to come from India.

Presently, Logan is produced in four countries - Romania, Russia, Morocco and Colombia.

In addition to India, it will be produced in two other countries in CY07- Iran and Brazil.

The Logan will share a stamping division and a paint shop of M&M's Scorpio-Bolero manufacturing facility.