Renault opens Renault Technologies Romania (RTR)
• Renault plans to invest around €100 million over the next two years on Renault Technologies Romania (RTR), a regional engineering centre developing vehicles and powertrains to be made at regional plants or sold in Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia and North Africa. RTR will be employing around 3000 people by the end of 2009.
• RTR, along with other regional engineering centres in Brazil and Korea, will be supporting Renault’s ambitious international development programme, under which 26 new models are to be released by 2009.
Renault Technologies Romania operates under the Renault Engineering global function, whose development workload extends to eight new models per year, as a key feature of the Renault Commitment 2009 plan.
Renault Engineering is a worldwide function with two main components: a central engineering department plus regional engineering centres covering Renault’s strategic markets. This organization implements standardized engineering processes worldwide, with common technical standards, precisely defined key functions, and harmonized technical policies.
The central engineering department has two main missions:
• Corporate
- R&D
- Pre-projects
- Corporate technical functions
- Resources strategy
• Development of vehicles intended for Western Europe
It steers and administers Renault Engineering, provides coordination and support for the regional engineering centres, and oversees the quality of all Renault engineering functions.
The regional engineering centres (in Romania, Brazil and Korea) have the following missions:
• Development of powertrain and vehicle projects (passenger cars and LCVs) for regional markets
• Technical support for regional production plants
• Support on local parts purchasing in cost-competitive countries, for local and international production
With high-growth automotive markets shifting outside Western Europe, competitive performance calls for closer contact with local customers. Regional engineering teams will have a better understanding of customers’ needs and vehicle usage conditions on local markets, and will be better able to involve local suppliers directly, from the product design phase onwards.
Renault Technologies Romania, a regional engineering centre in close touch with local customers
Renault Technologies Romania (RTR) will mainly accommodate engineering functions (design and testing), along with purchasing, design and support (management, human resources, IT) functions. RTR will handle development of powertrain and vehicle projects (passenger cars and LCVs) to be made at regional production plants or sold on Euromed regional markets. This includes vehicles based on the Logan platform. RTR is currently working with Renault’s Western European engineering team on a number of vehicle projects. It will eventually become the engineering hub for all vehicles developed on the Logan platform.
Renault Technologies Romania will be split across three sites:
• Bucharest: design offices (workforce 1900)
• Pitesti: engineering services at body assembly and powertrain plants (workforce 500)
• Test centre (test tracks, testbenches, etc.), scheduled for startup in the second half of 2009 (workforce 500)
For Renault Technologies Romania, Renault plans to create 1600 jobs in vehicle engineering, powertrain engineering and support functions. It will be recruiting mainly engineers, along with young graduates in various disciplines and other people with relevant experience. Renault Technologies Romania will eventually employ around 3000 people.
Romania, a country at the heart of high-growth Euromed markets
Romania appeared an ideal choice for siting Renault’s regional engineering centre. It enjoys a central location in the high-growth Euromed region (Eastern Europe, Russia, North Africa, Turkey, etc.), a strategic market for Renault. Then the Renault group leads the Romanian market with its Dacia brand. And the Renault group has a solid base in Romania, in the form of its efficient production facility at Pitesti, with body assembly plant, powertrain plant and logistics platform.
In Romania, the Renault group has stimulated development of a fast expanding suppliers network. And Romania offers Renault a qualified workforce with a good level of university education, and sound partnerships with national authorities and institutes.
sursa: renault.com