Renault executive squashes rumor of a ‘mini’ Dacia
There have been various reports over the past couple of years regarding the fact that Renault brand Dacia was considering building a smaller model than their current Sandero.
It looks now however, that those reports were quite misinformed seeing as how Renault’s chief operating officer Carlos Tavares said in an interview recently that the Dacia brand is not planning on joining Europe’s minicar segment.
The continued on to say that the current range of Dacia vehicles is large enough and that they want to avoid having too many cars. The idea is that they’re looking to further promote the current brand’s offerings further rather than fragmenting their marketing budget on too many models. He added that Dacia’s brand awareness is still very low, and this is quite true, so Renault’s approach cannot be faulted.
Expanding Dacia’s lineup would increase marketing costs too much, according to the Renault group executive, but the city car segment has been sending very clear signals in the past few years of growing steadily. The economic crisis in Europe has lead customers to start downsizing to cheaper and smaller cars, so when you look at the decision from this perspective, Renault’s thinking seems a bit curious.
A recent report from a German car magazine had said that Dacia is planning to launch a five-door minicar in 2015 priced somewhere at around 5,000 Euro. This mini-Dacia would use the platform from the Renault Twingo while its overall design would be influenced by the Sandero hatchback. The magazine added that this mini-Dacia would have a slightly longer wheelbase than the Twingo so as to allow for more interior space and a boot volume of 250 litres.
Currently Dacia’s smallest – and also cheapest – car is the Sandero subcompact which in Germany and Romania – Dacia’s home market – is priced from 6,990 Euro. Dacia also manufactures the Duster, Logan sedan and station wagon, Dokker city van and Lodgy minivan, so they have quite a decent roster of vehicles.
Dacia’s overall sales in Europe rose 18 percent in the first four months of 2013, having just been introduced in the United Kingdom.
