Dacia, Renault Group’s Romania-based budget-priced model, has revamped its lineup considerably within the final 12 months. Slower-selling fashions based mostly on outdated platforms just like the Logan MCV station wagon and Lodgy minivan have been changed by a tightly centered vary: The Spring EV minicar, the brand new Sandero/Logan small vehicles on the fashionable CMF-B platform, an extensively refreshed Duster SUV for 2021, and the approaching Jogger seven-seat household automobile, additionally on CMF-B and with the model’s first hybrid possibility. 

Denis Le Vot, a veteran Renault-Nissan Alliance govt who leads the brand new Dacia/Lada enterprise unit, mentioned how Dacia is making the transition to electrification and why it is greater than only a “low value” model with Automotive Information Europe Information Editor Peter Sigal on the Munich auto present.

Dacia’s lineup is almost all-new this 12 months, with the Spring EV and new Sandero launched in 2020, a facelifted Duster, and now the brand new Jogger. Are you hoping to outperform the market and acquire quantity?

We now have completed an honest job within the first half of the 12 months; Sandero is the best-selling automobile on the retail market (in Europe) and the Duster is the best-selling retail SUV. So we’re doing effectively for what we’re, which is a retail model.

Our industrial capability is already fairly effectively utilized. We’re kind of at full capability at our Romanian plant with Duster and the brand new Jogger, however considerably fewer Sanderos, as a result of they’re manufactured on a big scale in Tanger, Morocco, for the European market. We now have even began Sanderos for non-European markets at our second Morocco plant in Casablanca. So we should not have a goal for market share, however what’s vital is that we stay in an excellent place within the retail market.

Though the bottom value of the Duster is 11,990 euros, for instance, Dacia sells many autos in larger trim ranges. Is that one thing you need to construct on?

That is the truth, however not the notion. You learn that Dacia is a “low value” model, however I don’t think about it that method, within the sense that we promote solely to individuals who will spend minimal quantities of cash on a automobile. For instance, sure, the Sandero begins at a value of 9,000 euros, however then we now have the crossover-ish Stepway model with extra options, and it begins at 12,000 euros. Seventy-five % of Sandero gross sales are the Stepway model. So it isn’t that we promote the most cost effective vehicles in our vary; it is that no matter Dacia you select it is an amazing discount in comparison with the competitors. 

The Jogger shouldn’t be actually a station wagon; it is probably not a people-mover. Who’re your patrons?

I like the truth that it is probably not clear from the styling. However our proposal is obvious: This can be a household automobile. It begins with the five-seater model, which has 700 liters of cargo capability, which is large. You’ll be able to simply match two bicycles inside plus baggage. So if you happen to journey with 4 or 5 individuals it solutions most of what we had with the Lodgy and the Logan MPV. On the identical time, it’s an actual seven-seater. The third row seats weigh solely 10 kg, so you possibly can take them out or transfer them identical to a pack of mineral water. You should utilize it to go on trip with a household of seven. After all the trunk is extra restricted however you need to use the roof bars, which fold inward to make a rack, to hold your baggage on high.

So the Jogger affords all the things that’s usually Dacia, however it’s on the [Renault-Nissan] CMF-B platform [designed for small cars], which signifies that it weighs only one.2 tons. The seven-seat competitors might be derived from a cargo van or be a full crossover, so they are going to be a lot heavier, 350 or 400 kg extra. That makes a distinction as a result of we will transfer the automobile with a 1.0-liter engine. Our twin gas LPG providing has a 1,100 km vary with 121 grams per km of CO2. The burden of the automobile permits a small engine, and we will provide this at lower than 15,000 euros. 

You’ll have an E-Tech hybrid model of the Jogger. How can you provide hybrid expertise at a Dacia value?

Individuals ask what the Dacia secret is, what we do this the others don’t, and it is a mixture of issues: The way in which we promote the automobile, that there aren’t any rebates, that we select the specs rigorously. However there’s one other factor, which is that we don’t make the identical automobile on the identical time in Renault Group, for 2 manufacturers with a less expensive model and a higher-priced one. We got here out with the CMF-B “excessive spec” platform for the Renault Clio and Captur two years in the past, however we got here out with a completely revamped model six months in the past for the Sandero, with new digital structure, with all the things optimized for Dacia. 

However the vital factor is it has the identical roots. So if the bottom engine shouldn’t be sufficient to fulfill emissions rules, then we will take E-Tech hybrid expertise off the shelf, and since the Jogger is on CMF-B, we will simply copy/paste and set up it within the automobile. By the point the E-Tech Jogger goes on sale (in 2023), the expertise might be 4 years outdated, so the price is totally recognized, and growth partly amortized. 

Can we anticipate an E-Tech Sandero within the subsequent few years, then?

Positive, why not? I believe it should come. In 2035 we’ll be full-electric anyway [because of expected EU regulations], so between every now and then, the one query is when.

Would Dacia skip plug-in hybrid expertise for value, complexity and weight causes and go straight to full EVs?

I am unable to inform. We should see what the [coming] Euro 7 rules are going to be.

Are there any untapped markets for Dacia?

Geography-wise, we’re not trying to develop, as we’re effectively established in 44 international locations. However we now have to develop when it comes to product vary and model picture. Within the UK, we might do a greater job. Germany’s one other instance: We aren’t dangerous within the segments wherein we play, however Germany is a C phase [compact] market, it isn’t an A or B [minicar or small] market. We now have stretched the CMF-B platform to make a cushty C phase dimension automobile [with the Jogger], after which the Bigster [compact SUV due in 2024] might be one other pillar there for us. So as an alternative of investing in Australia, for instance, allow us to consider an actual C phase provide with the Bigster.

How are you constructing a relationship between Dacia and Lada?

Dacia in Europe is considerably just like what Lada is in Russia. That’s, providing important content material at nice costs. A well-liked automobile for the lots. We’re going to set up the CMF-B structure  in Russia, so all the following era Ladas might be on CMF. That may imply lots; we’re a 600,000-car-a-year model in Europe with Dacia, and Lada is about 400,000 vehicles. So we could have 1 million vehicles on CMF between the 2 manufacturers.