Dacia Logan is in fact a worldwide succes.
I knew Renault was selling the romanian model on a lot of markets under it’s own brand but today I found out from Alex via twitter that it’s also marketed under the Nissan umbrella in Mexico. The name is Nissan Aprio (sound a lot better than Logan – which they say stands for low-megane) and it’s pretty much the same car but it has some improvements: a much better front bumper, horn on the steering wheel and some more.People are asking themselves why didn’t they choose to keep the Dacia brand but it’s really simple. Dacia awareness is close to zero and it would also be pretty hard to build it. Ancient european history knowledge is very poor on that side of the Earth so Nissan sounds a lot better from this point of view.
And the price is only 6500 euro. I found this short clip and although youtube recommends it as the official TVC, I think it’s not quite that. I mean, even in Mexico, advertising cannot be that bad in execution.
I was thinking, that considering the price of the car it could be true but I’m still a bit biased. Anyway, sometime back I ran into this video and people said it was from Mexico.
Now the question is, are they marketing the same car under 2 diffrent names? Also another point of interest was in the redesign of the Dacia logo. Voices said that there was a clear inspiration from the Nissan logo. Well, now one can compare more than the 2 logos. 
Nascut in Sibiu, crescut in Sibiu, Piatra Neamt si Bacau, actualmente iesean de conjunctura.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
If it is such a great success, why sales go down?
Regarding the two names… Renault agreed, when they buy Dacia, to manufacture their project under the name of Dacia (only in this area). Original name of Renault Logan is kept for factories in Iran, Brazil and India (where the car is Renault – by Mahindra vs. Logan – by Renault in Europe).
Why they choose Renault name for areas where an enxpensive car is not selling and Dacia for an area where a cheap car can prejudice their name? I think you work in marketing…
January 18th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
@a sender: It was never a question why they choose different names for different markets. I was just trying to explain to my readers with not very much knowledge about branding, marketing and cultural specificity. Thx for the arguments and for completing the post. As for the last question … I didn’t quite get it. Renault chose to use its own brand on overseas markets because of its awareness. In Europe, where as you probably know, consumers have high standards, they chose to use Dacia in order to differentiate from Renaults actual positioning arguments. Dacia is a seen as a cheap car with low security standards and low quality level (as I stated in the post Logan is said to be a combination of Low and Megane). Anyway if you watched the clip for the Nissan Aprio you can see that the arguments are really simple: cheap, space and hard suspention.
Kinda like the Logan.
January 19th, 2009 at 4:47 am
bai nene tu ai idee cat e o masina buna aici in Canada. Una noua o poti lua si cu 15mii de dolari, asta insemnand cred vreo 10-11 mii de euro. Ma refer la masini noi, dar alea sh in foarte buna conditie, ma refer la firme de prestigiu cum e Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, Chevy, le poti lua la 5-6mii si mai mergi cel putin 100 de mii de km cu ele fara sa schimbi o piesa la ele.
Sa dai 6.500 euro pe un Logan mi se pare absurd. Scump, f scump pentru o masina cu performante mediocre ca sa nu zic slabe.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:09 am
Nu stiu daca se incadreaza in categoria masina, cand vorbim despre o masina aia inseamna stabilitate, confort, siguranta! Daca ai condus vreodata un toyota, bmw, volkswagen nu cred ca iti mai trebuie Dacia! Am uitat sa zic tu cate Daciauri ai vazut la care funtioneaza macar frana cum trebuie? de abs nici nu zic nimica…
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 am
@Zoli: Ei, nu fi chiar asa de critic. A fost laudata si de cei de la TopGear. E simlpa intradevar dar te duce de la A la B si varianta diesel chiar cu costuri destul de mici. Are portbagaj mare (f important pentru piata estica si a tarilor in curs de dezv. in care consumatorii sunt obisnuiti cu caratul proviziilor din zona rurala crezand ca inca mai fac economii) si e destul de spatioasa si la interior (5 pers incap chiar fara probleme). In plus, variantele pick-up si MCV nu sunt chiar cele mai urate din clasa lor si am auzit multe persoane care sustin ca isi fac treaba destul de bine cu ele. Intradevar nu o poti alatura unor branduri ca VW, BMW. Nici nu este in categoria lor de piata. Concurentii sunt mai degraba Renault Symbol, Fiat Albea, Hyndaui Accent si alte berline cu pret pana in 10-11k euro.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Great! Thank you very much!
I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Regards, Reader
January 29th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
@Timur I. Alhimenkov: As long as you mention me as one of your sources I don’t see the problem. I see that you blog about marketing also. Maybe we can change opinions sometime.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Zoli, si tu faci parte din cateforia aia de romani, pentru care orice e din romania, sau isi are origini in romania e praf, de rahat, in timp ce afara e raiul pe pamanat ?