Dacia has begun development of a new electric city car for Europe, Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo has confirmed.
Closely related to the upcoming Renault Twingo, it is being designed as a successor to the Dacia Spring, but unlike that car – which is imported from China – it will be built in Europe.
“We’re preparing to go one step further in terms of EV affordability,” De Meo said, revealing that the new model is planned to be priced from less than €18,000 (£15,000).
He also said it will be ready for market in just 16 months’ time. “I defy any competitor in the world to do that,” he added.
While the new car is set to match the current Spring on pricing, however, it is likely to make substantial gains in performance, technology and capability.
The current Spring is based on the China-market Renault City K-ZE, which was launched in 2019 on the Renault Group’s CMF-A platform for emerging markets. The new car, meanwhile, is being developed in parallel with the Twingo and is set to share that car’s AMPR Small platform – a version of the architecture which also underpins the larger Renault 4 and 5.
Its rapid 16-month gestation process will make it the fastest-developed Renault Group model yet – a product of the company’s new Leap 100 initiative which targets a 50-week development window for all new cars.
“We’ve moved to China speed”, said de Meo, hailing the success of the company’s partnership with a Chinese R&D consultancy on the Twingo programme.
Dacia’s smallest car yet will form part of a significant broadening of the Romanian marque’s portfolio, following soon after the launch of its largest model – the Bigster SUV – and a pair of other C-segment models due in the next two years.
According to de Meo’s target timeframes, it should launch around the middle of 2026, roughly a year before Dacia is set to launch the new third-generation Sandero – which will be offered as an EV for the first time.
