Dacia Sandero Continues Expansion in... Morocco

While other automakers struggle to get back in business in major markets such as the United States, other companies are more focused on smaller markets that could support a bit their international expansion. Such an example is French manufacturer Renault who has just announced that Dacia Sandero is to go on sale in Morocco, with models addressed to this particular market to be built at the local SOMACA plant in Casablanca.

Sandero will go on sale in Morocco on June 18, 2009 and will be offered with a three-year/100,000km warranty. According to a release by Renault, Dacia already owns a 16 percent share of the Morocco passenger car market, which makes it the second best-selling brand. Furthermore, Logan has been Morocco's best-selling vehicle since 2006, with approximately 14,500 units sold last year.

The SOMACA factory (Société Marocaine de Construction Automobile) will manufacture the Sandero using CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits sourced from Romania. The French manufacturer says that no less than 16 million euros were invested in this production facility, with Renault building a a specific body shop, an increase in the capacity of the paint shop, as well as the modernization of a rolling road test-bed at the end of the assembly line.

Sandero hatchback is quite a successful model, with Dacia and Renault selling a total of 140,000 units since it was officially launch. Moreover, Dacia is getting ready to debut the Sandero Stepway, a model which is already on sale in Brazil but will be manufactured across Europe under the Dacia brand. The new model is expected to arrive in European dealerships in September 2009, with order books due to open in July 2009.