Dacia’s 2026 plan revealed: can hybrid Sandero, new Spring and more boost UK sales?

Dacia is riding the crest of a wave, having just won the 2026 Dakar rally and sold 697,408 cars last year, up three per cent in a "not easy" market says sales boss Frank Marotte. But, despite overtaking Toyota to become Europe's second-best-selling brand among retail car buyers, Dacia admits it needs to perform way better in the UK market. 

Its plan here is to sell more electric cars – so it's a good job 2026 will unleash two new Spring EVs (not an accounting error), three new hybrids and a big estate car to complement the Bigster SUV. Read on for more details...

New Dacia Spring electric car

First up is the revamped Spring, priced from £12,240 thanks to a £3,750 Dacia-funded EV discount, which arrives in the UK in March. Given that a successor to Britain’s cheapest electric car is due by the end of the year, what is Dacia playing at by investing in new motors and suspension for the Spring given it has just months left on sale? 

“We have a mission to make BEVs affordable,” Dacia sales boss Frank Marotte told Auto Express during an exclusive meeting at the Brussels motor show. ““And we have an opportunity [with] limited capital investment to bring something more valuable to our customers, which will help sustain our used values.” Critically it will also assist Dacia in meeting its emissions obligations and avoiding fines, given it will take a while to crank up production of the replacement EV. 

Changes include a new lithium iron phosphate battery pack which boosts structural rigidity, new suspension to improve drivability, DC charging uprated from 30 to 40kW, and a choice of punchier motors with 69 and 99bhp. 

Replacement ‘Spring’ EV

Pratyush Rout

Appropriately set for an unveil in late spring is Dacia’s next-generation affordable EV. “We are presenting a new EV, which will be priced under €18,000 in Europe (around £15,000),” product chief Patrice Lévy-Bencheton told us in Brussels. “It’s under 4.2-metres long and will be produced in Europe in the same plant as the [Renault] Twingo.” 

That means it will qualify for the new M1E affordable EV class that the European Commission will introduce in time: Dacia will earn ‘super-credits’ towards those all-important emissions targets for every sale, and the car’s European industrialisation will also help profitability. The new model will swerve tariffs on Chinese-built EVs and qualify for local rebates such as the UK’s EV grant. 

The new car shares components with the new Renault Twingo, hence its jokey ‘Springo’ nickname within Renault Group. But it could be due a name change: it would be mighty confusing to offer two different cars with the same Spring badge concurrently. 

Marotte confirmed the ‘Springo’ would be wider than the outgoing car, which will boost interior space and stability, thanks to a broader track. “The new model will be much improved in drivability,” he said. It will have a range in excess of 124 miles: expect more than 150 if it shares the Twingo’s 27.5kWh battery. 

And the sales boss believes this car will help Dacia in the UK, by boosting the brand's EV sales and giving it extra headroom to sell more combustion cars, all the while meeting the 'ZEV mandate' which threatens fines for missing CO2 emissions targets. 

Dacia Sandero hybrid supermini

Dacia’s supermini, the Sandero, was Europe’s best-selling car to retail customers again in 2025, shifting 289,295 units (slightly down due to the French and Italian markets shrinking). It will become the final Dacia to be electrified when the hybrid model comes to the UK in the last few months of 2026. It’ll have the same upgraded exterior and interior design previewed last year and filtering through now on petrol models.  

“We’re going to introduce hybrid on Sandero,” confirmed sales chief Marotte. Expect it to get the same Hybrid 155 system, with 153bhp and electric driving at least 60 per cent of the time in urban areas. But why has it been delayed on Dacia’s best-selling model?

“It was a strategic decision, because basically electrification [was more quickly adopted] in the upper segments. We’ve been waiting for hybrid demand to be there and the moment is now.”

The proportion of Dacia hybrid sales doubled in 2025 to about 25 per cent of volume, with Jogger, Bigster and Duster leading the charge. 

Another ‘big’ Dacia: an estate

Dacia has pushed into the midsize ‘C-segment’ with the seven-seat Jogger MPV and 2025’s Bigster SUV. The firm is delighted with the latter’s introduction, having delivered 67,573 units in the second half of 2025. Marotte reckons that could grow to 85,000 this year, its first full year.

But Dacia won’t stop its upmarket push there; in fact, the Bigster’s launch has only given the brand confidence. “After Bigster [we] will deliver a second car in the C-segment. This will be announced later this year, quite late,” confirmed product boss Lévy-Bencheton. “Of course, [it’s] not a second SUV, we’re trying to maximise our coverage with a very complimentary offer targeting a different customer pool.”

Auto Express has scooped the new model, a practical but dynamic-looking estate, referred to internally as C-Neo. It’ll share its platform and engines with the Bigster. Marotte teased that the model wouldn't have an entirely conventional bodystyle: "There will be a very significant space for different silhouettes, which might not be the historical hatch or the historical wagon that we had on the European market." We're expecting the new wagon to be pretty rakish by Dacia's utilitarian standards.

And finally…Duster and Bigster Hybrid 4x4 

The final piece in the Dacia puzzle are hybrid 4x4 versions of the Duster and Bigster. The drivetrain is set to pair the Hybrid 155 unit with a hang-on rear electric axle, to provide power to both axles. It’s scheduled to arrive in the UK in the autumn.

“This is a tool to conquer even more customers, especially in Northern Europe where 4x4 is a real need. It goes in Duster and Bigster at the same time,” stated Lévy-Bencheton. “The 4x4 hybrid solution [has] electric drive up to 60 per cent of the time in city conditions, and [much] less CO2 than the mechanical 4x4 that we have today on Duster.”

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