New Dacia £15k baby prepares to make a big splash in affordable EV land
The Renault Twingo’s more pragmatic Dacia cousin is just around the corner
Electric cars are on track to become even more affordable with the release of a new Dacia electric city car due in the coming months. Spied testing for the first time with production relevant elements, this new A-segment EV could cost from as little as £15,000 when it arrives in 2027. It will rival cars like the BYD Dolphin Surf, Leapmotor T03 and the closely-related Renault Twingo.
We have known about this car’s development for a while now, but with the release of the Renault Twingo – a model it’ll share its chassis and powertrain with – we now have a much clearer idea of what is hiding under the skin of Dacia’s baby.
What will the new Dacia city car look like?
Looking at the prototypes in our spy images, it’s clear that this car will share its fundamental structure with the Twingo, but designers have been able to separate the two visually by using plenty of clever tricks. The first is the Dacia’s taller and more defined bonnet, which gives it a more conventional two-box silhouette.
Beneath the new bonnet are a pair of boxy LED headlights that’ll probably be joined by a large grille-like graphic as seen on other Dacia models. However, while the nose will be quite different in design, the side windows look to be carried straight over from the Renault, including the pop-out openings for the rear glass. At the back, expect similarly high placements of the rear lights, but these will be squarer and more conventional than the Twingo’s clever LED hoops.
Inside, we expect the pair to share their dashboard layout and general design, however Dacia will utilise its less colourful palette of recycled materials. The digital interfaces are also to be shared and should include a digital driver’s display paired with a Google-based 10-inch touchscreen. One of the Twingo’s iconic elements, the movable twin rear seats, could be reverted to a more traditional bench in order to help keep a cap on the Dacia’s costs.
What battery and motors will be fitted?
As well as the shared basic structure, Dacia’s plan to keep costs low will include the direct carry-over of the Twingo’s electric motor and battery layout. This means we’re expecting to see a 27.5kWh battery pack combined with an 80bhp electric motor mounted on the front axle. It’s far too early to be specific about range or performance, but it should match the Twingo’s 163-mile electric range, and 50kW DC charging speed.
Compared to key rivals, the Dacia will have a longer range and better charging capabilities than the entry-level BYD Dolphin Surf, while also substantially undercutting it in price. This also means it’ll usurp Dacia’s own Spring, however the Leapmotor T03 will still probably offer more range for your buck with 175 miles at around £16,000.
As with the Twingo, this Dacia has had a fast-tracked development that will bring it to market very quickly, but it will also mean we’ll have to wait a little longer than our friends in continental Europe for it to arrive. Right-hand drive production of the Twingo doesn’t commence until the beginning of 2027, so expect the Dacia to follow after that date, even if we see the completed car in the next few months.
Will this new model replace the Dacia Spring?
The model is likely to be sold, at least in the short term, alongside the existing Dacia Spring EV – itself only having been recently updated. 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.
However as we’ve established, it’s unlikely to offer a generous improvement on the current Spring’s 140-mile range, as Patrice Lévy-Bencheton, Dacia’s VP for product performance told us: “We do essential cars; we do only what the customer really needs.
“We define our product according to what we get from the customer survey, what insights we get in terms of real needs and real usages. And this is, for us, the better way to stay where we are on the market; position [the Spring replacement] as the most affordable EV on the market by far. You can count on us to continue to defend, let's say, this position on the market”.
Why build a second small EV at all?
Speaking on the media call discussing Dacia’s 2025 H1 financial results, Frank Marotte told Auto Express: “[Dacia is] committed to increasing our BEV share, our BEV volumes, and our contribution to the Renault Group’s CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy).
“So we keep developing the model that was announced earlier this year by (ex-Renault CEO) Luca de Meo, and we will bring more news to you in the coming months about this. You will not wait for too long,” Marotte told us.
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Is this more rapid-fire development from Renault and Dacia?
De Meo claimed the car will be developed in just 16 months, beating the 21 months that it’s taken 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 back in January.
A proven toolkit is key to the new Dacia’s rapid development, as Philippe Brunet, SVP Powertrain and EV Engineering for the firm’s Ampere sub-brand hinted, while discussing the new Twingo. “When we say that we are going to [develop the car] in two years, it means that it's only possible after the vehicle is already existing,” he said.
It means Dacia’s next EV will use a plethora of proven parts from the Renault 5 and Twingo, to ensure it can be developed so quickly. Given Dacia originally announced the new city car at the year, the Spring successor is now less than two months away, with a launch planned for summer 2026.
De Meo 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”
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