Dacia’s baby EV due in 12 months with a tiny £15k price tag
Dacia's new model will be developed in double-quick time, and it'll be built in Europe to avoid China tariffs
Earlier this year, Dacia revealed plans to launch a new £15,000 small electric car in double-quick time, reducing the car’s development cycle to just 16 months. Now, following our call with the brand’s VP for sales and marketing, it appears positive news is just around the corner.
Speaking on the media call discussing Dacia’s 2025 H1 financial results, Frank Marotte told Auto Express: “[Dacia is] committed to increasing our BEV share, our BEV volumes, and our contribution to the Renault Group’s CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy).
“So we keep developing the model that was announced earlier this year by (ex-Renault CEO) Luca de Meo, and we will bring more news to you in the coming months about this. You will not wait for too long,” Marotte told us.
The existing Dacia Spring is one of the very cheapest EVs money can buy. See if you could save even more via the Auto Express ‘Find a Car’ service.
How can Dacia launch the new EV so quickly?
De Meo claimed the car will be developed in just 16 months, beating the 21 months that it’ll take the Twingo to go from green light to production. “I defy any competitor in the world to do that, including the Chinese when they come to Europe,” de Meo said at Renault’s annual results conference back in January.
A proven toolkit is key to the new Dacia’s rapid development, as Philippe Brunet, SVP Powertrain and EV Engineering for the firm’s Ampere sub-brand hinted, while discussing the upcoming Twingo. “When we say that we are going to [develop the car] in two years, it means that it's only possible after the vehicle is already existing,” he said.
It means Dacia’s next EV will use a plethora of proven parts from the Renault 5 and Twingo, to ensure it can be developed so quickly. Given Dacia originally announced the new city car at the year, the Spring successor is now less than 12 months away, with a launch planned for summer 2026.
De Meo pledged that the new car will cost less than 18,000 Euros (around £15,000), and that it will “always be a true Dacia, and true value for money”, as well as “making money in the way Dacia is used to”.
Will this car replace the Dacia Spring?
The model is likely to be sold, at least in the short term, alongside the existing Dacia Spring EV – itself new to market only last year. But because the Spring is built in China, it’s at the mercy of European tariffs on Chinese EVs, which could raise its price by as much as 35 per cent. In time, the new model will probably replace the Spring in the UK and Europe.
However, it’s unlikely to offer a generous improvement on the current Spring’s 140-mile range, as Patrice Lévy-Bencheton, Dacia’s VP for product performance told us: “We do essential cars; we do only what the customer really needs.
“We define our product according to what we get from the customer survey, what insights we get in terms of real needs and real usages. And this is, for us, the better way to stay where we are on the market; position [the Spring replacement] as the most affordable EV on the market by far. You can count on us to continue to defend, let's say, this position on the market”.
Improvements in LFP battery chemistry may see a modest boost in how far owners can drive on a charge, but the new city car will still be an urban-focused model with efficiency and value at its core. It’ll major on its small footprint, but with five doors and seating for four.
Basing the car on the group’s AmpR Small platform will boost economies of scale, made easier by the fact that Renault has now confirmed the Twingo will be built in right-hand drive – meaning the dinky Dacia is all but confirmed for the UK, too.
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