Known for its budget-friendly vehicles, Dacia is preparing to launch a completely renewed, larger version of its popular model Spring to strengthen its competitive position in the electric vehicle (EV) market. The most striking detail in this new breakthrough of the brand was its production strategy: Dacia will produce the new Spring directly in Europe instead of importing it from China.
Spring, which has reached a sales figure of 210 thousand units since 2021, could not benefit from the latest electric vehicle incentives in France, one of Dacia's largest markets. This was mainly because the country's subsidy program for low-income buyers did not cover Chinese-made electric cars like the current Spring.
Dacia's Vice President of Sales and Operations, Frank Marotte, drew attention to the change in the market in his statement on the subject. "We have seen the demand for electric vehicles grow significantly in all segments since April. There is clearly a much greater demand, but having only a single electric model is holding us back," Marotte said.
The new Spring, which will be produced at Renault's factory in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, will share the same platform with Renault Twingo and Nissan's sister model. The new model, which will be 18 centimeters longer than its predecessor, aims to appeal to a wider user base with its more robust and flashy design.
Moving production to Europe will not only exempt the vehicle from additional customs duties imposed by the European Union on Chinese-made electric vehicles. It will also open the door to domestic production subsidies applied in European countries. This strategic move will enable Dacia to maintain its price advantage against the aggressive expansion of Chinese manufacturers into the European market.
The market losses experienced in recent months were also effective behind this radical change of Dacia. Rising fuel prices linked to tensions in Iran enabled electric vehicles to capture a record share of new car registrations in France in July and August (35% and 38% respectively).
Despite the rising sales figures of electric vehicles, there was a decrease in Dacia sales. According to August data, Spring could only rank 55th on the list of France's best-selling vehicles. It was seen that Dacia Spring was far behind its competitors such as Tesla Model Y, Renault 5 and Twingo.
Continuing its mission to be Europe's most accessible brand, Dacia plans to increase its hybrid options and introduce four different fully electric models to users by 2030, while continuing to focus mainly on internal combustion engines. The new Spring model, which is the first step of this vision, will be offered for sale with a starting price of 17,900 Euros.
Daica Spring is expected to use a 27.5 kWh capacity battery, similar to the Renault Twingo, and offer an average range of around 260 kilometers with its 82 horsepower (60 kW) electric motor. Other data expected to be announced are that the maximum speed is 130 km/h, DC fast charging power is maximum 50 kW and that the battery can increase from 10 to 80 percent in approximately half an hour.
Shortly after the first electric version of Dacia Spring was put on sale in Türkiye, its sales were stopped due to the changing legislation on vehicles coming from China. It will be easier for the model, which is not currently offered for sale in Türkiye due to high customs duties, to come to Türkiye once production starts in Europe.
