Retooling Will Boost Output at Dacia’s Pitesti Plant

Dacia, Renault SA’s Romanian automotive unit, is spending €100 million ($132.4 million) to retool its assembly plant in Pitesti, just north of Bucharest.

The project, slated to begin Dec. 18, is designed to accommodate the introduction of a new product and boost the site’s annual production to 350,000 vehicles from 235,000 by 2008, Renault says.

The plant will get a new paint shop, and the body shop and assembly line will be enlarged.

The new product, scheduled for launch in early 2007 is a light commercial vehicle. Pitesti already builds the Logan-brand sedan and MCV.

The plant had been producing a pickup based on the Renault 12, which ended Dec. 8.

Before year’s end, Logan production will stop for eight days to allow the retooling to proceed, the auto maker says. To make up for lost time, however, Logan MCV output will be increased from 250 to 300 units a day in early February.