Dacia claims it engineered this Spring replacement in a remarkable 16 months, turbocharged by the fact it uses an existing platform and was jointly created in China and Europe, with the twin time zones allowing development around the clock. While it will initially be sold alongside the existing Spring, the Chinese-sourced car faces extra European import duties that its European-built successor avoids. 

Super-small production version of Hipster

Another Dacia EV is likely to be the production version of the Hipster concept car, a short-range urban EV that manages to cram four seats into a 3m-long package thanks to its tall, boxy stature. Its compact size would meet the proposed criteria for the European Commission’s ‘M1E’ affordable electric vehicle class, with manufacturers who build them qualifying for super-credits towards their emissions obligations. 

“We feel there is a need in the market for a very, very affordable EV car,” said Ms Adt. “We have continued to work on [the Hipster]. We have all the assets in house to do it. However, we still need to pay attention also to the development of the markets, but also of the regulations, and we’re waiting a little bit for that to push the button.”

Firming up the regulation is expected to take all of 2026, so the proposed 100km EV (62 miles) would struggle to make production much before 2030. 

The final EV could be a larger Dacia, with the value brand increasingly pushing into the midsize C-segment with the Bigster SUV and forthcoming Striker crossover estate. 

“The mission is to have an EV offer in each segment,” Ms Adt said. But it’ll take some clever engineering to square the circle of a bigger car requiring a larger, costlier battery: the boss is determined for the brand’s EVs to remain affordable and offer good all-round capability, given Dacias are often the only car in a household. 

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