Dacia’s baby EV due in 16 months with a tiny £15k price tag

Budget brand Dacia will launch a new £15k small electric car 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 said at Renault’s annual results conference last week, where the group announced a third successive year of record figures.

He also pledged that the new car will cost less than 18,000 Euros (around £15,000), 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”.

Will this car replace the Dacia Spring?

The model is likely to be sold, at least in the short term, alongside the existing Spring EV – itself new to market only last year. But because the Spring is built in China, it’s at the mercy of European tariffs on Chinese EVs, which could raise its price by as much as 35 per cent. In time, the new model will probably replace the Spring in the UK and Europe.

It will probably offer an improvement on the Spring’s 140-mile range, although it will still be an urban-focused model with efficiency and value at its core. It’ll major on its small footprint, but with five doors and seating for four.

Basing the car on the Twingo’s AmpR Small platform will boost economies of scale, and although Renault has yet to confirm right-hand-drive production for its new electric city car, Dacia’s popularity in the UK should ensure the next-generation EV is offered here.

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

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