A “real electric car” for less than 15,000 euros in Europe? This is the challenge that Renault is launching today with its Dacia brand. In the absence of a “concept car”, which remained on the stand of the Geneva motor show canceled at the last minute due to coronavirus, the group at Losange released this Tuesday by press release the first details of its future low-cost electric car. Inspired by the City KZE, launched in China last November, the Dacia Spring is a small SUV of segment A, therefore less than 4 meters, with a sporty “look” and muscular lines. It will be launched in 2021.
“It will be the ideal vehicle for individuals in urban use, but also for fleets or car-sharing services”, explains Xavier Martinet, group marketing director. With five doors and four real seats, it will have a range of 200 kilometers (WLTP standard).
Dacia’s new breakthrough
“After the Logan, which invented the” Global Access “concept, then the Duster, which applied it to the SUV, the Spring will be the third Dacia revolution,” says Xavier Martinet. With Dacia, the Renault group has introduced the concept of “design to cost”, consisting of imagining a car with the essentials, designed from the outset so that its price is reduced as much as possible: simplification of components, manufacturing in countries with low cost, etc. An undeniable know-how of the group at Losange, on which it remained unequaled. He used it for Dacia, but also for Renault vehicles in emerging countries, such as the Kwid in India and Brazil, or the KZE in China.
“The Dacia Spring will be adapted to Europe, with all the required safety standards”, insists Xavier Martinet. Neither its place of manufacture nor its future price have been disclosed, but according to our information the order of magnitude of 15,000 euros, net of subsidies, is not absurd.
To note
Dacia sold 565,000 cars last year.
Your reference journal
For over 110 years, the editorial staff of Les Echos has developed unique expertise in news coverage.
Our 200 journalists in Paris, in regions or abroad are in the field in contact with political leaders, companies or specialists to offer you verified information, exclusive interviews, detailed explanations and in-depth analyzes to allow better understand the world of today and take ownership of the challenges of tomorrow.
Subscribe in your turn and benefit from unique and expert news coverage, unlimited access to all the work of our journalists: analyzes, exclusives, surveys, newsletters as well as the premium version of the site.