PARIS — Dacia will sponsor a manufacturing facility group to race the Dakar desert rally in 2025 as a option to showcase carbon-neutral mobility utilizing artificial fuels, model CEO Denis Le Vot stated.
The Renault model’s entries can be pushed by the French rally champion Sebastien Loeb and Christina Gutierrez of Spain, a stage winner and seven-time participant within the journey race.
“Dakar is turning into a lab for low-carbon mobility,” Le Vot stated, “and that is exactly the mission of Dacia.”
Le Vot wouldn’t say what sort of automobile Dacia would race, however he stated that the technical accomplice can be Prodrive, a racing firm that has constructed Dakar entries for Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroen, Toyota and others. Extra particulars can be revealed early subsequent yr, he stated.
The group could have a check race in 2024, he stated, with an official entry in 2025.
The artificial fuels can be developed and provided by Aramco, which can be a accomplice with Renault Group and Geely in a deliberate enterprise to develop and construct internal-combustion engines known as Horse.
Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo has stated artificial e-fuels, which could be produced utilizing renewable vitality, can be a very good match for Dacia, a price range model that he stated will go full electrical “as late as attainable” to maintain costs low.
The European Union has just lately stated it will create an exception for e-fuels within the 2035 emissions rules, which mandate zero emission for brand new vehicles offered.
The Dakar rally began because the Paris-Dakar race within the late Seventies, however safety issues in recent times have relocated it from Africa to routes in South America and, now, Saudi Arabia.
Loeb, who received quite a few World Rally championships with Citroen, stated the Dakar rally is now his most important focus and that he needed to “struggle for the win” with Dacia.
He and Gutierrez had been the 2022 champions of Excessive E, a collection for full-electric off-road autos.
The group will embrace “in-house abilities” from Renault Group, which sponsors Method One and endurance racing groups unde the Alpine model, Le Vot stated.
Le Vot stated racing Dakar additionally match with Dacia’s latest deal with outside journey advertising and marketing, together with the brand new Manifesto idea automobile, an electrical off-road buggy.