New Dacia Striker to assist brand's affordable estate car goals
The Dacia Striker, formerly known as C-Neo, will be revealed in full on March 10th with a more conventional hatch version to follow
All hail the desirable Dacia! This is the Dacia Striker, an all-new, flagship crossover set to hit the UK market in late 2026 for around £22,000.
The jacked-up estate car is the biggest Dacia yet: at 4.62m long, it’s around 50cm longer than the Bigster SUV. The Striker is very much a sister car to that halo off-roader, but while the Bigster is rugged and utilitarian, the forthcoming hybrid crossover injects design allure into Renault’s value brand.
“We are really proud of this car, particularly the design, positioning and price,” says Renault Group’s chief design officer, Laurens van den Acker. The Striker breaks new ground with its swooping roofline, hi-tech lamps and chiseled surfaces. Don’t think it’s all style and no substance though: the extended rear overhang and long wheelbase will unlock plenty of space for cargo and passengers.
Van den Acker describes the five-door hatchback as an “Allroad Break”, with ‘un break’ the French term for an estate. Thanks to its elevated ride height on wheels up to 19 inches in diameter and wraparound plastic body protection, the Striker lives up to Dacia’s outdoor ethos. But the cladding is more streamlined than the Bigster’s, in keeping with a silhouette that clearly delivers superior aerodynamic efficiency.
The front end wears the studded, black-panel grille from the facelifted Jogger MPV, Sandero hatchback and rugged Sandero Stepway. It intersects with L-shaped LED lights, containing a splintered T-shape graphic. This motif is repeated with the rear lamps, linked by a full-width black panel featuring the Dacia nameplate, crowned by an aerodynamic rear spoiler. It’s topped off by crisp sheet metal, with a strong shoulder line and contoured bonnet, plus chiseled accents in the doors and tailgate, finished here in a lovely aquamarine tone. Whisper it, but this is an aspirational Dacia.
What will power the new Dacia Striker?
Under the skin lies a stretched version of Dacia’s ubiquitous CMF-B platform, also shared with the Bigster. Although full details won’t be released until the Striker is revealed in the flesh in June, Dacia has confirmed hybrid and hybrid 4x4 drivetrains, along with a Liquefied Petroleum Gas engine that won’t come to the UK.
The base powertrain spinning the front wheels is set to be the 1.2-litre TCe. This mates a turbocharged three-cylinder engine with mild-hybrid assistance and a six-speed manual transmission, kicking out 138bhp in the Bigster. Expect the Striker to post a similar 9.8-second 0-62mph acceleration time, but slightly improve on the Bigster’s 50mpg.
The most fuel-efficient Striker will run the Hybrid 155 system. This combines a 1.8-litre petrol engine with a 49bhp electric motor housed in the automatic transmission. Together they yield 153bhp and 170Nm of torque. But the Hybrid 155’s special sauce is being able to run around town on electric power up to 80 per cent of the time, slashing emissions and fuel consumption.
Dacia is also rolling out a new hybrid four-wheel drive system this year, that comes in the Duster and Bigster first, and will slot into the Striker later. This Hybrid 150, named after its output in metric horsepower, combines Dacia’s mild-hybrid set-up with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and an additional rear electric motor.
This musters 30bhp and 87Nm of torque, spinning the rear axle through a two-speed gearbox to flexibly deliver high torque at low speed to conquer tricky surfaces. Expect a number of electronic drive modes, to enhance traction on sand or wet grass for example. Total system power is 148bhp and 230Nm.
With its lower centre of gravity, the Striker should be more satisfying to drive than the Bigster, Dacia’s sales boss Frank Marotte has previously told Auto Express. “Some customers think that driving an SUV is not as pleasant as a hatch or a wagon. [Such] propositions have a better balance between driveability, efficiency and space.”
What will the new Dacia Striker look like inside?
Dacia is largely keeping the new car’s cockpit under wraps for now, although the full-length glass roof – only available on the Bigster in flagship Extreme trim – gives us a window inside. The steering wheel design is familiar, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Dacia’s overt philosophy is to ‘design-to-cost’ and the Striker and Bigster will share components, such as the dashboard mounting and ventilation system, which will necessitate a common cockpit architecture. Expect the Bigster’s twin digital screens, stubby gear selector and practical centre console as a result, complemented by Dacia’s You Clip attachment system for fixing phones, cups and bags around the cabin, plus some bespoke flourishes.
How much will the new Dacia Striker cost?
The Striker is Dacia’s second model priced in the mid-sized ‘C-segment’, though the seven-seat Jogger fits the bill on length, if not its £19k price. “We always thought the Duster, a [big] B-segment SUV was our glass ceiling,” admits designer van den Acker. “But the Bigster has proven [otherwise]. The [Striker] fits into the range between Stepway and Bigster.”
It’s all part of a push to grow mid-size car sales from one-fifth to one-third of Dacia’s total volume, boosting the brand’s profits. It’ll go hand-in-hand with a drive to make two-thirds of Dacia sales electrified; the Sandero will be the last model to offer an electrified variant this year, when it goes hybrid.
These powertrains will attract more fleet buyers, especially in bigger cars such as the Striker. And Dacia has begun to carve out a credible presence in the C-segment: Bigster deliveries began in July 2025, putting it on the path to becoming the best-selling C-SUV at retail in the second half of the year.
But while Dacia is the best-selling retail brand in countries including France, Italy, Spain and Romania, it only ranks sixteenth among Brits. Its new model name is all about “hitting the mark”. Dacia will hope the attractive Striker has the appeal to make an impact here – and everywhere else.
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