Dacia targets 30% more UK car sales, thanks to good-value, larger cars

The Striker crossover – Dacia’s all-new seventh model – will spearhead a major growth push under recently-appointed UK boss Lina Ribeiro.

Dacia is one of the UK car market’s best-kept secrets, with only 30,000 registrations last year – despite cost-of-living challenges making the brand’s value promise incredibly relevant. 

The new boss, a 20-year veteran of Renault Group, is determined to reverse last year’s dip in volume, backed by a product offensive including the Striker, new Sandero and four fresh EVs. 

Speaking to Auto Express in her first interview since becoming leader, Ms Ribeiro outlined her plan. It’s focused on “building Dacia’s awareness and familiarity in the UK,” retaining its 70 per cent loyalty rate among existing customers, and retailing more electric cars to give the brand headroom to sell more big, hybrid cars while still meeting its emissions obligations.

“Preparing to launch the new Striker is one of the priorities for me and the team this year,” she said. The 4.62m-long estate-cum-SUV will arrive in right-hand drive in early 2027 – and Ms Ribeiro suggested the UK line-up would be “all hybrid”. 

That likely means the drivetrain will be the 153bhp ‘full’ hybrid 155, which runs on pure electric power for lengthy spells around town. A sign Dacia is getting above its station? Its other large, ‘C-segment’ car is the Bigster SUV, where hybrid powers four-in-five UK registrations. 

The upcoming, budget Audi Allroad is true to Dacia’s philosophy of offering only the essentials – no powered, massage seats, no leather upholstery – ”but it’s true that the range is changing, getting more attractive” with the Striker and Bigster, she argued. 

Dacia’s traditional models – small cars such as the Sandero, Duster SUV and Spring EV, aimed at retail buyers – have restricted growth, with larger company cars and increasingly pure electric power accounting for more than half of the British new car market. “The C-segment is 40 per cent and we didn’t have [a core model] until Bigster launched 12 months ago. Soon we’ll have the Striker. It will be a massive opportunity for us,” explained the boss. 

“We announced [the price will be] below 25,000 Euros (around £22,000), that really is a good value. And the body shape is totally different...with not many competitors today: maybe we will start a trend like the original Renault Scenic. These things really excite me.”

Big ambitions for sales

The Duster SUV is Dacia’s best-selling car in the UK, with 10,000 registrations and 60 per cent of them hybrid. “The Duster is like the Clio for Renault. We only need a couple of thousand more units to be a top 20 retail best-seller: that is one of my personal challenges.” But it’s still a far cry from the Sandero being the best-selling car in Europe, with 289,000 registrations in 2025. A Sandero hybrid is confirmed for the UK in late 2026. 

While Dacia is the second best-selling retail brand on the mainland, it underperforms in Britain: why? Aside from Dacia’s lack of fleet business, Ms Ribeiro noted the dominance of German premium brands, with BMW and Audi both among the top five sellers in 2025. “That premium logo has been important but maybe now people are looking more for quality-of-life. If they can get a reliable car with Dacia’s best-in-class cost of ownership, they will have more to invest in holidays or experiences with the family.”

If her plan comes together, Dacia is set for “controlled” growth. “We have a mid-term plan, where we’re talking about maybe 30% volume growth in the next few years. But we want to protect retail – it’s retail first,” she concluded.

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