Dacia is priming a sub-£16,000 city car as one among 4 new EVs it should launch between now and 2030 – and the city runabout has now been noticed testing for the primary time.
The new mannequin is twinned with the Renault Twingo, and the shut ties between the 2 fashions are evident. Like its retro sibling, the Dacia has a raked C-pillar, curved roofline and rounded rear home windows, plus comparable surfacing round its wheel arches.
Yet vital variations are additionally evident: it loses the Twingo’s signature rounded entrance gentle design for a skinny gloss-black panel, like that on the Spring. At the rear, it doesn’t have the Twingo’s lozenge-style window shroud, and the brake lights are notably higher-set than these on the Twingo.
The new Dacia city car will likely be revealed later this 12 months, forward of a public debut at the Paris motor present in October. It has been developed in simply 16 months.
Although it’s positioned equally to the Spring, it should not immediately replace that model. Speaking to Autocar, Dacia product boss Patrice Lévy-Bencheton stated “they are still quite different” – it will likely be barely bigger and wider, and its design takes higher affect from Dacia’s SUVs.
While Dacia has but to offer agency technical particulars of the car, it’s prone to intently match the Twingo, with a 27.5kWh battery giving a variety of simply over 160 miles. Notably, Dacia has confirmed the mannequin will likely be priced from lower than €18,000 (£15,600), undercutting the sub-£20,000 Twingo and making it one of many most cost-effective EVs on sale.
Three extra Dacia EVs in subsequent 4 years
Dacia has dedicated to the launch of three additional electric automobiles over the following 4 years, though it has not but given full particulars of them. One, nevertheless, would be the electric model of the next-generation Sandero, which, the corporate has confirmed, will undertake a “multi-energy powertrain range”.
As previously reported by Autocar, it should use Renault’s CMF-B platform, which permits for pure-combustion, hybrid and electric powertrains.
The Sandero will “remain the value-for-money benchmark in its segment”, stated Dacia. It was for years the most cost effective car on sale within the UK.
As effectively as growing its EV line-up, Dacia will proceed to broaden its hybrid choices. While round 1 / 4 of Dacias presently bought characteristic a hybrid powertrain, the objective is for that to succeed in two-thirds sooner or later.
