Renault Inaugurates New Vehicle Test Center in Romania

The Renault Group has opened a brand new test facility in Titu, Romania. Built on a 330-hectare site located between the Dacia plant in Pitesti and the Renault Technologie Roumanie (RTR) engineering center in Bucharest, the Titu Technical Center will complement the company's Aubevoye and Lardy test centers in France.

According to Renault, the new facility will focus on testing for vehicles and powertrain components from the B0 platform that underpins the low-cost Dacia Logan.

The center is said to have 100 benches for testing vehicles and components such as shock absorbers, running gear and powertrains. The benches can simulate extreme conditions, testing the ability to withstand cold, and simulating sunlight, rain, and other situations.

In addition, the center has ten types of tracks including a speed circuit, uneven road surfaces, an underbody impact zone and wading troughs, which make up a total length of 32 km or about 20 miles.

Renault said the first teams arrived at the Romanian facility in June 2010, and the workforce will increase to 300 people before the end of the year. The first track tests are planned for October 2010.