New Dacia Spring confirmed for September reveal and super low price

The new Dacia Spring will be unveiled in September, Auto Express can confirm. The next iteration of the brand’s no-nonsense, cut-price electric car will continue to focus on the simple bare necessities of motoring.

The current Spring may have only arrived in the UK two years ago, but it was launched in Europe back in 2021 so it’s about time for an all-new replacement. More than 200,000 examples have been sold across Europe since the city car hit the streets, explaining why its successor will carry forward the Spring name.  

Supposedly the new Dacia Spring has been developed in just 16 months. This is even faster than the Renault Twingo it’s based upon that went from green light to production in 21 months – an unprecedented feat for a European carmaker.

In an exclusive interview with Auto Express, Dacia CEO Katrin Adt reaffirmed the goal is to have the new Dacia Spring start from less than 18,000 euros (around £15,000 at the current exchange rate) and the car’s rapid-fire development has helped achieve this.  

But she added, “I also think the most important thing is that we have, again, used our Dacia DNA to design it to cost and to really reduce everything to the essential. 

“Therefore, this car has strictly what the customer needs, and nothing else. It’s amazing to see that Dacia is capable of doing that in any segment.”

Adt was a 10-year veteran of Mercedes-Benz before taking on the top job at Dacia, and the two companies have very different philosophies. “Coming from Mercedes, I only knew engineers who are packing things in the car. While in Romania, we have a team of engineers who are taking things out of the car, which is fascinating to see.

“I was very much in favor of that and it is also a definite proof of how consistent this brand is. So there is our brand value, essential and cool, and you see that in everything we are doing.”

What will the new Dacia city car look like?

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As we said, the new Dacia Spring will be the more pragmatic sister car to the irresistible Renault Twingo, but rather than a bubbly city car, the Dacia is going to be a sub-four-metre SUV with rather chunky proportions. Despite the car’s diminutive size, Dacia even promises the cut-price EV will have seating for four people and a “proper boot”. 

Looking at the prototypes in our spy images, it’s clear that this car will share its fundamental structure with the Twingo, but Dacia’s design boss David Durand assured us he and his team have enough freedom to create something uniquely Dacia.

“I’m sure you will recognise it as a real Dacia. It was important to differentiate completely [new Spring] from Renault and not have a similar offering with the two brands. It would make no sense because we will start to compete and this is not at all what we want to do.”

The 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 for the rear lights, but these will be squarer and more conventional in design 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?

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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 broadly match the Twingo’s 163-mile electric range, and 50kW DC charging speed. 

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 the old Spring considerably, 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. 

How much will the new Dacia Spring cost?

We’re not expecting it to arrive in the UK until 2027, but when it does, prices could start from as low as £15,000, ensuring it retains the title of the UK’s cheapest electric car that the current model has held since coming here.

Patrice Lévy-Bencheton, Dacia’s VP for product performance hinted as much when Auto Express spoke to him about the new Spring: “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 new Spring] 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”.

We don’t expect the old and new Spring will be in showrooms together, but the current model has recently been updated so it can hang on until its successor arrives. Importantly, however, the new one will be made in Europe, whereas the outgoing model is built in China and at the mercy of European tariffs that could raise its price by as much as 35 per cent. 

Why build a second small EV at all?

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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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