The top variant of the hatchback produced by Dacia will cost at most 9.500 euro and will start to be commercialized in a month and a half time.

Dacia will start to commercialize the hatchback Sendero at the end of June - beginning of July, at a price that will not surpass 9.500 euro for the best equipped version, said yesterday the general director of Dacia and Renault operations in Romania, François Fourmont.

The car will be available in four variants of motorization, two on gas and two on diesel. The basic price of the type will be close to the price asked for Logan, around 6.500 euro. Fourmont mentioned that for the production of Sendero were opened factories in Romania for 12 suppliers, five of them being installed on Dacia's platform in Mioveni.

The launch of the hatchback type on the Romanian market will take place at the beginning of June. Sendero had an world class launch, two months ago, at the Geneva Auto Show. Dacia Sendero derived from Renault Sendero, commercialized by the French group in Brazil and Argentina. Restyling for Logan sedan

On the other hand, the restyled variant of the Logan sedan type will be launched after the hatchback presentation. "The restyled Logan sedan will be launched after Sendero, and in the following weeks we will decide if we are going to launch restyled versions for the other types from the Dacia range (break, wagon and pick-up)", explained Fourmont.

Most probable, it will be a restyled version just for the break type, because the Renault group doesn't usually perform face lifts for utilitarian types, range that includes the wagon and the pick-up. INVESTMENT

Renault and Nissan put into gear at Mioveni

The Renault group opened yesterday, on the Mioveni platform, a gear box factory, its production will be exported. The gear boxes will equip six Renault types and seven Nissan variants for their 1.8 and 2 liter gas motors, as for the 1.5 diesel engine.

This is the first common gear box of the Renault-Nissan group, and in a first stage 5.000 units will be produced here, every week.

"In the future, gear boxes produced in Romania will equip Logan cars", said the general director of Dacia and Renault operations in Romania, François Fourmont. The first orders have been made at the end of April. "Already, more Renault Scenic cars are running in France with gear boxes produced in Romania", said Fourmont. The investments made at the Renault Mécanique Roumanie factory rise up to 224 millions euro (almost 10% of the investment) is represented by state funds from the Romanian government.The factory has 342 employees, and by the end of the year another 318 will be hired.

"The investment made at Renault Mécanique Roumanie is a proof of the trust that the French investors have. With 5-5.5 billions euro invested by the French in Romania, France is the third largest investor in the country. The Renault presence in Romania sums up 25% of the French investments made in Romania", said the French ambassador in Romania,Henri Paul, present at the opening of the factory.

The total investment made by Renault in Romania will reach, at the end of the year, 1.2 billions euro, mostly directed to the Mioveni platform, in the engineering center Renault Technologie Roumanie and in Renault Mécanique Roumanie.