Dacia confirms new £15k baby EV

Budget brand Dacia will launch a new £15,000 small electric hatchback next summer, with Renault Group boss Luca de Meo confirming that the car will be built in Europe on the same platform as the new Renault Twingo.

De Meo claimed the car will be developed in just 16 months, beating the 21 months that it’ll take the Twingo to go from green light to production. “I defy any competitor in the world to do that, including the Chinese when they come to Europe,” de Meo told Renault’s annual results conference, where the group announced a third successive year of record figures. 

He also pledged that the car will cost less than 18,000 Euros, and that it will “always be a true Dacia, and true value for money”, as well as “making money in the way Dacia is used to”.

The new model is likely to be sold, at least in the short term, alongside the Dacia Spring – itself new to market only last year. However, the Spring is built in China, and therefore subject to any European tariffs on Chinese EVs, which could raise its price by as much as 35 per cent. That’s why, in time, the un-named new model could replace the Spring in the UK and Europe.

The new Dacia city-car will likely offer an improvement on the current Spring’s 140-mile range, although it will still be very much an urban-focused model. As is also the case with the Twingo, Renault has yet to confirm right-hand drive production, but given Dacia’s popularity in the UK it would seem logical.

Dacia’s next model launch is a Nissan Qashqai rival called the Bigster. The petrol model arrives this spring, and will be the brand’s largest car to date.

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