- Dacia goals to launch an electrical model of Europe’s hottest car, the Sandero.
- It is going to be a variant of the redesigned next-gen Sandero, not a standalone mannequin.
- It is prone to share its batteries and motors with new Renault EVs just like the 4 and 5 E-Tech.
Renault-owned Romanian automaker Dacia had an awesome 2024, promoting 676,340 autos globally. Its best-seller was the Sandero hatchback, Europe’s hottest new car, promoting virtually 310,000 models final yr. Now, Dacia needs to construct on the combustion mannequin’s success, so it plans to launch an electrical variant towards the top of 2027.
That is “nice information” for a automotive that is turn out to be immensely standard for its affordability—and is well-known the world over by followers of golden-age High Gear as a type of working bit in its information segments. However joke apart, the Sandero has been a success that additionally will not break the financial institution, and now it is shifting past gasoline too.
Dacia Sandero (2027), rendered by Motor1.com
We don’t have a lot to go on proper now, however based on Automotive Information, Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot revealed {that a} pure electrical Sandero is within the works. He went on to say that Dacia plans to launch at the very least two new EVs by the top of the last decade, when the producer’s solely present EV, the China-made Spring, will possible be phased out.
Photograph by: Dacia
Dacia Spring (2024) assessment
The Spring obtained a major replace final yr, making it much more eye-catching than earlier than and likewise giving the inside a much-needed makeover. Nonetheless, gross sales of the Spring in Europe fell dramatically in 2024 after many international locations diminished or eradicated EV buy incentives. The Spring is now additionally topic to hefty import duties imposed on electrical autos manufactured in China.
However Dacia is clearly not giving up on making extra inexpensive EV choices. The brand new electrical Sandero will possible be inbuilt Europe, however whether or not it should roll out of Dacia’s house plant in Romania stays to be seen. The manufacturing unit doesn’t at present construct any EVs, and it could require important funding and retooling to permit it to construct battery-powered automobiles. Dacia hasn’t publicly introduced plans for any such funding but.
This implies it could possibly be constructed alongside Renault’s different EVs in one of many producer’s European factories. The Renault 5 E-Tech is constructed on the Renault ElectriCity facility in Douai, whereas the 4 E-Tech is made by Maubeuge Development Vehicle. It’s possible to contemplate that both of those vegetation might additionally construct Dacia-badged EVs.
Dacia will possible use the front-wheel-drive Renault AmpR Small platform (also referred to as CMF-B EV, a variant of the CMF-B platform utilized in at this time’s Sandero) to underpin the brand new electrical mannequin. Identical to the Renault 4 and 5 EVs, the Sandero EV might have two battery pack sizes (40 kWh and 52 kWh) and a base energy output of 95 hp. Probably the most potent variant might get a 150 hp motor that ought to make it really feel fairly spritely.
With a bit of luck, the electrical Sandero will probably be a worthy competitor to the numerous new electrical choices coming to Europe from China—and ultimately, Volkswagen as effectively. And if it may recreate the recipe for the combustion-powered Sandero, it needs to be a success in its personal proper.
Autocar just lately reported that Dacia was giving the Sandero an entire redesign for its subsequent era, however the mannequin will stay a hatchback—it received’t turn out to be a crossover. There’ll nonetheless be a high-riding Sandero Stepway variant, however the producer goals to distance it farther from the common hatchback with the subsequent era.
Dacia design boss David Durand additionally clarified that the EV will simply be a variant of the common Sandero, not a standalone mannequin. So, it should possible seem like the common mannequin however with a closed-off grille, aerodynamic wheels and badging to set it aside.
The opposite EV coming from Dacia will certainly be a crossover of kinds. The producer might capitalize on the success of the Duster identify and simply create a Duster EV, or it might launch a completely new electrical crossover mannequin. Nonetheless, it will possible be revealed after the electrical Sandero, which needs to be revealed (in all probability in a close-to-production idea type) someday in 2026, forward of its launch one yr later.
