New Dacia aims to tease

By Sam Hardy

09th February 2009

Always fancied a VW Scirocco but couldn’t afford the £20,000 asking price? Well, Dacia might just have the answer.

These leaked teaser images reveal a forthcoming small coupé concept car from the Renault budget brand, set to make its world debut at next month’s Geneva Motor Show.

Little is known about the new model, but it’s expected to sit on a front-wheel-drive platform taken from the current Renault Clio. It will be clothed in a good-looking coupé body, featuring minimal overhangs front and rear, plus narrow headlamps – as you can see in our pictures – and big triangular tail-lights.

The design has evolved dramatically during the past few years. Compare the teaser images with our picture of the original design, and you can clearly see differences in the doors. The front grille and tail-lamps will also be changed.

Indeed, it’s thought that the model first started out as a Renault, before being restyled as a Dacia.

The new coupé will be revealed in concept form at Geneva next month, with a production version scheduled to arrive in showrooms early in 2010. It will be the flagship of the Dacia line-up, and bosses hope it will act as a ‘halo’ product – drawing customers into showrooms and boosting the appeal of budget cars such as the Sandero hatchback and the Logan saloon, estate and pick-up. With information so scarce, it’s difficult to put a price on the Dacia Coupé. Considering its budget brand status, though, the newcomer would probably start from around the £12,000 mark. However, as Dacia has no UK dealer network at present, it’s unlikely the model would appear on British roads for another two years at least.

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