- Dacia goals to launch an electrical model of Europe’s hottest car, the Sandero.
- Will probably be a variant of the redesigned next-gen Sandero, not a standalone mannequin.
- It is more likely 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 amazing 2024, promoting 676,340 autos globally. Its best-seller was the Sandero hatchback, Europe’s hottest new car, promoting virtually 310,000 items final 12 months. 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 grow to be immensely fashionable for its affordability—and is well-known internationally 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 in line with 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 least two new EVs by the top of the last decade, when the producer’s solely present EV, the China-made Spring, will probably be phased out.
Picture by: Dacia
Dacia Spring (2024) assessment
The Spring bought a major replace final 12 months, 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 nations decreased 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 reasonably priced EV choices. The brand new electrical Sandero will probably 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 presently construct any EVs, and it might require vital funding and retooling to permit it to construct battery-powered vehicles. Dacia hasn’t publicly introduced plans for any such funding but.
This implies it may very well 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 Car. It’s possible to contemplate that both of those crops may additionally construct Dacia-badged EVs.
Dacia will probably use the front-wheel-drive Renault AmpR Small platform (also called CMF-B EV, a variant of the CMF-B platform utilized in at the moment’s Sandero) to underpin the brand new electrical mannequin. Identical to the Renault 4 and 5 EVs, the Sandero EV may have two battery pack sizes (40 kWh and 52 kWh) and a base energy output of 95 hp. Essentially the most potent variant may get a 150 hp motor that ought to make it really feel fairly spritely.
With a bit of luck, the electrical Sandero shall be a worthy competitor to the numerous new electrical choices coming to Europe from China—and ultimately, Volkswagen as nicely. And if it may well 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 a whole redesign for its subsequent era, however the mannequin will stay a hatchback—it received’t grow 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 following 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 probably 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 types. The producer may capitalize on the success of the Duster title and simply create a Duster EV, or it may launch a wholly new electrical crossover mannequin. Nonetheless, this can probably be revealed after the electrical Sandero, which needs to be revealed (most likely in a close-to-production idea type) someday in 2026, forward of its launch one 12 months later.
