Better late than sooner
Dacia effortlessly maintains itself in the higher regions of European sales statistics and a small model offensive should ensure that the Romanians remain there in the coming years. Electric cars do not yet play a major role in this, but Dacia is nevertheless forced to launch a larger electric model in addition to the Spring.
Highlights
- Sobriety first; not too wide a range
- EVs subordinate to petrol cars until 2035
- Won’t happen before 2027
The Dacia Sandero has been an outright bestseller in Europe for years. Last year, the Sandero only had to beat the Peugeot 208 in the European sales lists. Whether the down-to-earth hatchback will succeed in taking the throne this year remains to be seen. The Tesla Model Y is currently in the lead this year, but the Dacia is hot on the heels of Tesla’s big success. Dacia owes its success mainly to its relatively favorable pricing, but also to the composition of its model range, which surprisingly only has one electrified model – the Jogger Hybrid – and one EV: the Spring. The Dacia Spring was good for 27,438 registrations in the first six months of this year. For comparison: the Sandero sold almost 140,000 registered units in the same period, while the Duster and the Jogger sold approximately 112,000 and 51,000 units respectively. Although the Spring certainly contributes, Dacia clearly does not have to rely on the Spring. At first glance, the brand seems to have no plans to release a brand new EV in the short term, but one is secretly in the pipeline. And an important one too…
Modest specifications
Dacia will launch a brand new Duster in 2024 and a year later it will expand its line-up upwards with an as yet unnamed SUV that will sit one spot above the Duster. The new Duster and its later larger sister model will of course have (mild) hybrid powertrains thanks to Renault’s CMF-B platform – which you also know from the Sandero and Jogger. The next generation of the Dacia Sandero will arrive in 2027 or 2028 and that model should certainly last well into the 1930s. There are also variants of the new Sandero with electrified or non-electrified combustion engines, but the Romanians also have a fully electric version in the pipeline. Dacia CEO Denis le Vot confides this to us. It is still too early to express differing expectations about specifications. Without a technological revolution in battery land, do not count on a model with a range of 500 or 600 kilometers. A battery pack that makes such a range possible would simply make the electric Sandero too expensive. That is of course not possible, after all, Dacia’s ‘budget positioning’ is one of their biggest purchasing arguments. Dacia naturally fills the electric Sandero with technology that Renault has on the shelves. That also keeps costs low.
One is dead…
It is precisely this great attention to ‘the affordable’ that, according to Le Vot, Dacia must grow enormously in the coming years. In 2022, Dacia will sell no fewer than 570,000 new cars and according to the enthusiastic CEO, the question is not if, but when the brand will reach a million units. In this hopeful expectation, Le Vot takes into account, among other things, the influence of the Euro 7 standards. Although the associated emission requirements have not yet been set in stone, it is certain that this will make cars more expensive in any case. That could be beneficial for Dacia, Le Vot believes. More and more people would therefore look for affordable models. “I see that cars are becoming more and more expensive. If a middle class car cost €32,000 a few years ago, it will now cost €37,000 and in a few years it will cost €42,000. Many people do not have that much to spend and will therefore look at their next car differently.”
Dacia will also embrace the EV in the long term. But until the brand really has no choice but to fill the showrooms with electric models from 2035, it would rather welcome buyers who are not yet ready for an EV. The power of the conscious laggard.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl